A rush-hour bus half full with commuters burst into fire on a road lined with residential buildings yesterday morning, killing at least three and injuring 12.
Families and witnesses said five people were seriously injured, with at least one of them in critical condition. Details of the dead passengers were not released.
Police blamed a passenger carrying unspecified "flammable materials" for the accident, which happened at about 9 am, but did not give any further details.
A woman who survived uninjured claimed she smelled gasoline.
The fire started in the central part of No 842 bus, which had roughly two dozen passengers, when it was about to leave a stop near the junction of Huangxing and Guoquan roads in Yangpu district.
"Something caught fire all of a sudden in the middle section of the bus," said Liu Kai. He told China Daily he was seated in the rear and suffered burns on his feet and knees.
"About 20 to 30 people were in the bus, including an old woman with a baby in her arms," the young man said in hospital. He added people rushed out of the bus pushing each other after the fire broke out.
Firefighters reached the site in about 20 minutes and after the fire was put out in half an hour, all that was left was a charred skeleton of the vehicle with all its windows missing and its roof blown open.
By late morning, the area was cleared.
Advertising company employee Zhu Junyi, who has 50 percent burns, was in critical condition at Changhai Hospital. Four other seriously wounded people are also being treated at the hospital.
The bus company declined to comment on the accident.
But witnesses said some passengers were trapped because the windows were sealed and one door shut in the air-conditioned bus, leaving only one door open.
"I saw an old man on fire rushing out of the bus and yelling for help," witness Chen Xiangquan told China Daily. "A motorcycle rider and I were too scared to help, worrying about an explosion. The man probably died."
He said the heat generated by the inferno made it impossible for anyone to stand within 10 meters of the bus.
The accident in the country's financial hub comes amid intensified efforts to tighten security ahead of the Olympic Games in August.
The city is ready to embrace the Olympic torch relay in two weeks.
（英语点津 Celene 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Bernice Chan is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Bernice has written for newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong and most recently worked as a broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, producing current affairs shows and documentaries
