47 killed as flames engulf express bus in Xiamen
Second tragedy in a week comes just hours after Li Keqiang orders nationwide safety campaign
At least 47 people died and 34 were injured when a bus caught fire in Xiamen, Fujian, in the evening rush hour yesterday.
The Bus Rapid Transit express bus was travelling on an elevated road 500 metres from Jinshan station at about 6.30pm, Xinhua reported, citing an unidentified municipal government source.
Witnesses said they first spotted heavy smoke and that the flames spread rapidly. This was followed by loud explosions as passengers fled for their lives.
State Councillor Guo Shengkun - the public security minister who had just returned from Jilin , where a fire at a poultry slaughterhouse killed at least 120 people earlier in the week - is leading a State Council working group that was heading to Xiamen late yesterday.
The fire was extinguished in about 30 minutes. The cause is still being investigated.
Pictures circulating on the internet showed survivors in burned clothes on the road, some covered in blood. One young woman's face had been blackened by smoke, and another woman sat on the ground shoeless and her bare legs covered with blood.