Woman’s ride-hailing death in China sparks fresh anger over lack of safety and security
- The woman hired the van in Changsha, Hunan, to help her move house, but reportedly jumped from the moving vehicle. She died in hospital a few days later
- Ride-hailing firm Lalamove, known as Huolala in China, has pledged to improve safety. Her family doubt its version of the events surrounding her death
Chinese police are investigating the death of a 23-year-old woman who is alleged to have leapt from the window of a van she had hired through online platform Huolala, which is known as Lalamove in other Asian markets.
The incident has rekindled public anger in China over the lack of driver security checks and passenger safety for those using some vehicle-hailing apps. Two women were murdered by drivers for another ride-hailing platform, Didi Chuxing, in the space of three months in 2018.
On Wednesday, Huolala released a statement on Weibo, China’s Twitter, apologising to the woman’s family and promising safety improvements.
In an earlier statement, on February 21, Huolala said the passenger, surnamed Che, had hailed a van on the night of February 6 in Changsha, the capital of southern Hunan province, to help her move house. Che reportedly jumped out of the moving van in which she was a passenger, the statement said, and died in hospital a few days later.
Che’s distraught family aren’t convinced she jumped willingly, saying that just minutes before the incident she had been joking with colleagues in an online social media group.