Chinese bus blaze may have been sabotage
CHINA: Preliminary investigations suggest a fierce blaze which gutted
a bus leaving 25 people dead and 76 injured in southwest China may have
been started deliberately, state press said Sunday.
The packed single-decker bus burst into flames early Friday morning
in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, after a fire apparently
started inside and quickly engulfed the whole vehicle.
“What we can say now is that we have ruled out the theory of
self-combustion or a mechanical glitch,” the Beijing News cited Chengdu
transport spokesman Hu Qinghan as saying at a Saturday news conference.
“Initial investigations at the scene have concluded the theory (that
sabotage may have been involved).”
Further investigation into the blaze was ongoing, he said.
The bus’s diesel tanks were intact and investigators have concluded
that the flammable liquid that caused the fire was not from the fuel
tanks, Hu said.
Beijing, Sunday, AFP |