Fourteen people were killed and another 32 injured after a bus caught fire in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning.
Fire services in regional capital Yinchuan say that the route 301 bus erupted in flames at 7:03am, as it passed the Yinchuan Chinese Wolfberry Pavilion on state road 109.
The injured have been sent to hospital for treatment and the cause of the incident is currently under investigation, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
China has been rocked by a series of similar bus fires in recent years. Whilst some have been blamed on overloading and the improper handling of hazardous materials, others have been deliberate acts of arson carried out by “mentally unstable” people and those seeking revenge against society.
In 2013, a mass murder-suicide killed 47 people on a bus in Xiamen, Fujian province. Family members of the suspect, Chen Shuizong, claimed he was angry with police officials whose refusal to correct an error on his identity documents resulted in him being denied social security benefits.
