WORLD
47 dead in suspicious China bus fire
Baku, June 8 (AZERTAC). A fire on a bus in China which killed 47 people and injured 34 during a peak-hour commute appears to have been deliberately lit, police say.
Chinese police say they have identified a suspect who might be responsible for the fire that gutted a commuter bus, killing 47 and injuring dozens more during rush hour in a port city in south-eastern China.
Xiamen police did not provide further details in making the announcement online.
The fire ripped through the bus during the Friday evening commute while it travelled on an enclosed and elevated road in the city.
A local fire official said emergency workers found bodies piled inside the charred, skeletal bus.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday that in addition to the 47 dead, 34 people remained hospitalised.
Investigators said early on Saturday the fire appeared to be intentionally set, and was not an accident, Xinhua reported.
Among the clues, Xinhua said, was that investigators found traces of petrol on the wreckage, though the bus ran on diesel fuel and its oil tank and tyres remained intact.
"It's a serious criminal case," the Ministry of Public Security, the national police agency, said in a statement on its website. Xiamen police declined further comment.
China has seen bombings and arson of buses and public buildings in recent years, sometimes by people trying to settle personal scores and also by people with overtly political grievances.
In 2009, an unemployed man set fire to a packed bus in the central city of Chengdu, killing himself and 26 others.
Xiamen, a prosperous trading port known for centuries in the West as Amoy, was rattled by Friday's fire.
The city immediately suspended service of the entire express bus system, known as Bus Rapid Transit, but operations resumed on Saturday morning.