A 34-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly setting a public bus ablaze in northern China on Tuesday morning, killing 17 people.
The suspect, identified as Ma Yongping, was arrested in a residential community in Helan county in the city of Yinchuan in the Ningxia region slightly before 5pm.
Officers spent four hours negotiating with Ma before he gave himself up to police. Ma, who suffered burns himself in the incident, was taken to hospital for treatment, state television CCTV reported.
The initial death toll was 14, but it was lifted to 17 after three more bodies were found as workers cleaned out the wreckage, Yinchuan vice-mayor Ma Kai said. Police are collecting DNA samples to verify the victims’ identities.
Thirty-two people, aged 20 to 65, were also injured, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported. They were taken to hospital, with seven in intensive care. One person suffered 99 per cent burns.
A hospital spokesman said eight of the victims were in a critical condition.