Depressed vendor blamed for deadly Xiamen bus fire
Blog left by Xiamen arsonist tells of bullying by officers and failed attempts to get pension
Police in Xiamen believe a disgruntled street vendor started the fire on an express bus on Friday in which he and 46 other passengers were killed and 34 injured, many seriously.
The city government said the discovery of petrol in the shell of the bus showed the fire had been started intentionally because the bus ran on diesel.
According to China Central Television, Chen Shuizong, 59, a Xiamen native, started the fire to vent his grievances. A suicide note was found at his home.
The fire broke out at 6.30pm when the packed express bus carrying about 90 commuters was on an elevated section of road. The fire took half an hour to extinguish.
"Chen Shuizong felt his life was not as he wished it and was profoundly pessimistic, so he gave vent to his anger by starting the fire," CCTV said in a brief report.
On Thursday, Chen wrote on his microblog that he had been a street vendor since 1994 and had been bullied for years by urban management officers.