Pictures

Shenzhen Bus Bursts Into Flames Days After Chengdu Fire

by on Sunday, June 14, 2009 58 comments

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From NetEase:

2009 June 13 at 9:50am (just now [yesterday morning]), Shenzhen City Luohu District Baoan North Rd., next to Dihao Hotel, a public bus filled with passengers suddenly burst into flames. Number of casualties currently uncertainly, and presently 110 [police], 120 [ambulance], 119 [fire] have all arrived at the scene and are busy rescuing the victims. May the passengers be safe.

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More pictures from different netizen witnesses:

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A video:

Comments from NetEase:

david811003:

I hope there not too many innocent lives are lost.

xiangwanzhan:

It looks pretty frightening. In the future, if I ride the public bus, I also better choose a spot that is good for escaping.

zgy2053:

So incredible, but please do not be another Chengdu scene.

繁世静默:

I am already afraid to ride public buses. Unfortunately, I neither have the money to buy my own car, so how am I supposed to live…

北国的风:

Did those passengers bring hammers?

dg90909090:

I think I cannot ride air-conditioned buses this summer~~~MLGBtibet, why is this kind of thing always happening!

影子歪:

Is this real?
Could it be a fire department exercise/drill?
I’m already afraid.

sss8688:

Several in a row, are these planned terrorist attacks, ZD ["Zang Du" 藏独, Tibetan independence] groups??

wangxin81800:

Is this real or fake??? How come the news has not reported it? It is also possible that China’s media are all afraid to say anything!!

娲额头:

No matter how many more people are burned to death, there still will not be anyone paying attention to it!!! When something happens, a big deal is made for a while, but after a while, there is not even a fart!! If you don’t believe me, just wait and see!!!

Also on Sina and Mop (Chinese).

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58 Comments

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  1. The Grudge
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 3:44 am

    RIP… I wonder when the government will finally officially acknowledge that it’s terrorism.

    Let’s all sing together: “An Harmonious Society, we believe in it and we crush the dissidents and the unhappy, an harmonious society, 5000 years of uninterrupted harmony and still counting”

    “Happy happy everybody is, happy happy we all are!”

    “Let’s join hands and make a circle of love, and dance in harmony!”

    “Harmony, Harmony in our magic harmonious Chinese society!”

    “Everybody is happy, we live in an harmonious golden cage!”

    Reply
    • Asis
      Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 4:17 am

      Happy happy every day

      Reply
    • Celkian
      Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 4:31 am

      If it is terrorism (and to be clear I do not support it) it would a good strategy. Buses attacks have plentiful targets, they scare the public, they are hard to cover up and provide a clear pattern for the public.

      That’s me just thinking though, i don’t see any evidence this is terrorism.

      Reply
    • FOARP
      Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 7:31 pm

      1) It is not terrorism, unless a bomb has been developed which explodes the fuel tank without actually exploding itself. A bomb on a bus blows up inside the passenger compartment, not inside a sealed gas fuel tank. For comparison, consider the bus bombings which occurred in Russia and in Kunming, where holes were blown in the side of the bus, shrapnel was scattered causing injuries in the surrounding area, and the bus was not even necessarily set on fire.

      2) This actually happens more often that is reported, I saw a fire like this in Shanghai back in ’07, the bus just started smoking, people bailed out, and then it exploded, the emergency services were there in a few minutes. However, it was not reported on the local news, and I suspect the newspapers were bribed to stay quiet (something which happens very often).

      3) This is caused by poor maintenance, poor construction, and cost-cutting on safety measures. Like as not the cause of all these fires is almost certainly corruption on the part of the manufacturers/operators, not malice.

      Reply
      • matt
        Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 9:29 am

        why does it have to be a bomb?

        couldn’t you light the bus on fire with a petroleum type substance? i am sure the tank would catch if exposed to flame, no?

        Reply
  2. mlgb
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 9:01 am

    They need to start putting xray scanners at all bus stops. That will solve the problem.

    Reply
    • FOARP
      Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 7:33 pm

      What they need to do is investigate the bank accounts of the people in charge of manufacturing/producing/purchasing/operating these buses. Why do you assume it is terrorism? A bomb would not cause such damage, but poor maintenance and corruption can and does!

      Reply
  3. kalo
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 9:44 am

    Terorrists in china?????

    Reply
  4. frank.
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 9:46 am

    I don’t know, though. I live in a fairly big city, and the buses go around with a big can of diesel fuel right behind the driver’s seat. I could easily see the sort of circumstance happening where the bus catches fire. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised. They’re not big on public safety in China.

    Reply
  5. shin
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    I wouldn’t jump on calling these fires terrorist attacks until there is some kind of evidence. It’s more likely that idiot locals decided to bring gasoline on the bus in unsafe containers while the next passenger was carelessly smoking a cigarette. remember the attempt to have “self serve” gas stations here?…it was quickly squashed because some sheeple were taking it away in plastic bags.

    Reply
  6. Xiaowu
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    藏独?? No way. 藏人 don’t bomb. Others do. Are you all really that misinformed?

    Maybe someone who immediately says “藏独” has some other purpose.

    Reply
  7. Hao Gan
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 1:13 pm

    Dear Friends:

    This is not Tibetan Independent Movement. They will not hurt chinese people. This is because the Tibetan movement is alway focusing on government but not on the people. They could have done a lot of thing if they wanted. But they only focused on the government.

    The Dalai told his Chinese friends that he would never let Tibetan people hurt Chinese people.

    Reply
  8. yb
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    Seriously, to jump on the “terrorist attack” theory right away… has anyone spent any time in China at all? Since when has safety been important anywhere? Anyone actually BEEN on a bus in China, even? Considering the state of disrepair they’re in, the amount of time they’re running, the heat, and the shoddy maintenance they do, there’s tons and tons of reasons why a fire could catch on. How about a good old engine overheating? I’m not buying the terrorist thing one bit at this point.

    Reply
    • Mike
      Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 11:37 pm

      I’ve lived there, traveled on Shenzhen buses almost everyday from Buji to Luohu district. Most of the buses I would say are about 5 years old but about 20-30% are 15 years old at least with wooden seats (no padding) and no safety/emergency exit. Maintenance as you know is an optional thing, their motto is pretty much don’t fix what ain’t broke (pretty much like here in the US). Though I’m sure they will take maintenance more seriously now in China (and hopefully in 5 years they will start to mandate emergency windows in all buses and not these stupid hammers).

      Reply
    • Sushi
      Monday, June 15, 2009 at 2:35 pm

      Bus fires are a rare but regular occurrence across he world. I’ve seen several in the US and also in Europe. Generally they are always older and ill maintained buses.

      I still bet that more people are killed in car accidents than bus accidents. In the grand scheme, they are still very safe anywhere…incl. China.

      Reply
  9. VeerLeft
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    1. WHen it comes to mechanical issues, maintenance is everything. THese shitty little fires are not TERRORIST acts, they are the result of negligence at the macro level. Combined that with the age of the buses and the odds are that there will be another fire reported very soon.

    2. There have been plenty of prior bus fires I am certain. The Chengdu fire alerted the public due to the huge loss of LIFE. The loss of a bus is a weekly occurence in China I am sure. Huge place, shitty maintenance, lots of buses…
    Just now, everyone is paying attention.

    Reply
  10. Kellen
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 8:35 pm

    i very much doubt its terrorism.

    Reply
  11. skydiggity
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 8:39 pm

    When summer comes in the States, people throw on sunblock, head to the beaches, swim and laugh..

    When summer comes in China, buses explode.

    Reply
  12. moom
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 9:13 pm

    I’ve been on buses in Beijing and Tianjin and they were about the same or better even than those in the US and Australia, or Britain I’ve been on…

    Reply
    • Mike
      Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 11:33 pm

      I can’t compare to Beijing or Tianjin but having lived in Shenzhen I can say these buses are vastly inferior to the buses in NYC. I used to sit on these buses going from Buji to Luohu (sometimes Nanshan district) in Shenzhen everyday. These buses DO NOT HAVE ESCAPE WINDOWS. You know how in the US they have these levers, you pull then push out the window? They don’t have them. I don’t recall if the rear exit door had an escape lever to open the door in an emergency. I definitely do not recall two emergency exits in the roof of the buses. I would say about 20-30% of the buses in Shenzhen are at least 15 years old and they lack almost all emergency equipment (with no padded seats, made from wood).
      Btw, I do not think these are terrorist attacks, it is much more likely due to shoddy maintenance (which is very common in China).

      Reply
    • Samael
      Monday, June 15, 2009 at 12:18 pm

      in Australia, at least in Sydney, our buses are made by Mercedes Benz.

      Reply
    • Jamar
      Monday, June 15, 2009 at 6:39 pm

      I, on the other hand, regularly use the Shanghai bus system (at least until the metro gets to where I live). I’ve seen better buses in Tennessee.

      Reply
    • FOARP
      Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 7:36 pm

      I’ve been on buses all over China, and I think you’re crazy. I can’t remember ever hearing about a fir on a bus in the UK.

      Buses I’ve seen explode with my own eyes in China: 1

      Buses in any other place: 0.

      Reply
  13. yb
    Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 11:57 pm

    moom, it’s definitely maintenance issues. Sure, you sit on a fairly new bus (let’s say i’ll take Shanghai as an example, because it’s possibly the only city in China that uses foreign-designed and built buses (Volvo and Daewoo), and even if the DESIGN and your comfort are ok, what do you know about what’s happening under the hood? How would you know what’s been bolted on properly, which straps have been changed, etc.? What do you know about the fact that the bus has been running for 18 hours straight in 30+ degrees? That’s where the difference lies.

    Terrorism my ass. If they keep chalking it up to terrorism, THAT’s when it becomes dangerous: nobody will do anything to improve the maintenance.

    Reply
  14. kevin
    Monday, June 15, 2009 at 10:03 am

    The officials are playing the terrorist card to avoid being accused for the real reasons:

    1. Purchase of bad quality bus based on decision factors like money under the table, personal relationships etc. Same old story

    2. Not releasing a budget for regular repair and control or spending that budget on other purposes such as KTV hookers etc

    Reply
  15. KaiSa
    Monday, June 15, 2009 at 10:19 am

    Its just poor maintainence.

    The job entry requirements for a mechanic here in China are “owns a roll of duct tape”

    That and the boss of the bus company stealing money from the maintainence fund (because it won’t be noticed) to buy bijiu and xiaojies for his govt. cronies.

    For evidence of the complete lack of any kind of practical or techinical knowledge in Chinese society outside of manufacturing just look at how people repair thier mopeds.

    Reply
  16. ST
    Monday, June 15, 2009 at 10:45 am

    I’ll go with the poor quality of the bus as being a major factor in these fires. That combined with the fact that it is entirely conceivable that someone could bring a can of fuel onto the bus. While in China I’ve been on one bus that caught fire (though it was a simple engine fire that did not spread) so I suspect this is not such an uncommon thing. Combine a propensity for fires with some combustible material being carried aboard and you get these sorts of hellish fires.

    Reply
    • Sushi
      Monday, June 15, 2009 at 2:40 pm

      And consider that the entrance to subways actually warns people not to bring combustables into the station… I think that sums it up. Common sense just isn’t common.

      Reply
    • Bill
      Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 9:15 am

      Can anyone confirm is the same model and made of the bus that caught fire in chengdu? Is there a design problem that we don’t know and beginning to surface now? From the pic, it looks very much the same type of buses and these type of buses are fairly new..so maintenance and quality of the bus might not be the problem..

      Secondly, in China, you can almost bring anything on board buses (especially those making delivery)and there is no one to stop them from doing so… this might be another point to consider..

      Terrorism should be on the bottom of the list…

      Reply
    • pug_ster
      Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 1:12 pm

      Unfortunately, people do bring fuel in buses. Some homes do not have gas or cooking stoves and these people have to use propane fueled tanks to cook. Maybe some guy smoking and it can be used for ignition. Sad fact but someone has to start banning smoking on buses also.

      Reply
  17. ken
    Monday, June 15, 2009 at 11:03 am

    The officials are playing the terrorist cards so the real reasons won’t be investigated.

    1. Purchase of bad quality that never have a chance to meet official safety standards. Purchase decisions were money under the table, personal relationships, etc

    2. Budget for regular repair and control was spent on KTV hookers etc.

    Nothing new under the sun.

    Reply
  18. 高少恩
    Monday, June 15, 2009 at 3:55 pm

    I ride the bus regularly, and it’s somewhat common to have to get off the bus and onto another one because they do break down quite a bit. This seems to be a maintenance issue. I really hope that whatever problem caused this is identified and reported before people start getting paranoid and suspicious of different ethnic groups.

    Reply
  19. yb
    Monday, June 15, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    ken, you’re pretty much right on the money.

    Reply
  20. Jamar
    Monday, June 15, 2009 at 6:35 pm

    Geez, that looks worse than HK given the proximity… maybe they should let the HK bus companies operate in Shenzhen. It would be quite a step up.

    Reply
  21. Amadeus
    Monday, June 15, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    Is this site the counterpart of 163.com?
    I like you guys,in this post ,I give credit to Ken.

    Reply
  22. Xiaowu
    Monday, June 15, 2009 at 10:21 pm

    Again, who would say it’s Tibetans, when the many bus bombs that have already happen in China in the past 20 years have all been Chinese people (like Fuzhou, Kunming etc.) Even if it was non Chinese, its far more likely to be Uigur or Hualong Hui than Tibetan.

    That is why I say, if you say “Tibetan terrorist!” what is your real agenda? Because you are ignoring logic and history. So, you must be ignoring it for a reason…right? Or you really believe the government attempt lately to show Tibetan as “violent,” which is totally a sad joke.

    Reply
  23. yellow master race
    Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 3:40 am

    i dont belive this maintance theory. the terrorist idea is more shiny and logicaly for the yellow master race.

    Reply
  24. Miako Tamatsue
    Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 6:15 am

    Usually if it’s a terrorist act, then an organization will make a claim for it. Otherwise, why commit a terrorist act if you’re going to be anonymous? It doesn’t help the terrorist’s plight. So far, we haven’t heard any group claim responsibilities for it.

    I’ve been riding on buses and trains in some developing countries in Southeast Asia. I have to say that they should restrict and enforce what passengers can bring on board a bus. Gasoline or other flammable liquids should be top of the list. Weapons like knifes, guns, etc. should second. Next comes live animals. I know many of these countries are poor and people depend on bringing these live animals home for food, but I think modifications to the bus can accommodate these live animals and still not allow them to be carried on board for health reasons. And last, ban smoking on buses. Not only does that pose a fire hazard, but it also poses a health threats to other people on board especially the elderly and children.

    In my engineering career, I have seen very few buses or cars that catch on fire that quick without being in a collision. If the bus catches on fire due to mechanical or electrical issues, people would see smoke for a period of time and they will have time to evacuate. Oil and diesel fuel do not burn that quickly. Try throwing a match onto a pool of diesel fuel or oil. It will not likely catch on fire.

    If a lot of people have died (e.g. from the previous bus fire), then a fire must have started inside the passenger compartment. Someone could have carried gasoline onboard or someone was smoking (which a lot of people do in Asia) and threw the cigarette on something or felt asleep. There are many possible scenarios. But I definitely believe the fire started in the passenger compartment since so many people didn’t get a chance to get out.

    Reply
    • Rick in China
      Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 1:24 pm

      RE: “Usually if it’s a terrorist act, then an organization will make a claim for it.”

      I think this may be true for some larger/international ‘terrorist’ organizations, but I don’t think it’s true for smaller sects or groups or even smaller extremist groups, especially *within* China, as they’d bring a backlash of monstrous proportions to their people or related groups from the Chinese government. The .cn gov’t has much more of an iron-fist ability to smash groups here than say, the US to smash down cellular international organizations..so I’m not sure this is a fair comparison.

      It’s quite possibly terrorism – the purpose being to create panic and fear amongst the general population – many people are very afraid of taking busses (I’ve noticed bus stops and busses having VERY few passengers in Chengdu lately) and it’s not always so obviously politically motivated…sometimes it’s backlash/revenge, keep in mind what anniversaries have passed as of late.

      Reply
      • Rick in China
        Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 1:26 pm

        That being said it’s also quite possibly just coincidence and mechanical failure. I don’t think enough evidence has been released to support either case..

        Reply
        • FOARP
          Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 7:48 pm

          Not ‘coincidence’, because this happens all the time, it is just that it is kept out of the news – just as the above commenters say, and as I saw with the fire in September ’07 in Shanghai. Either the government does want this kind of bad news, or the bus companies bribe the papers not to report it (incredibly common, I know several businessmen who have bribed the papers not to report bad news about their businesses).

          Reply
      • FOARP
        Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 7:45 pm

        No, it really CAN’T be terrorism. Why? Because it is clearly not caused by a bomb. An explosive device would blow the bus apart (go look at what happened to the bus destroyed in the London 7/7 bombings), and even a fire bomb or incendiary device would explode rather than smoking first.

        The people who blame this on Tibetan terrorism really are just brainwashed idiots. The bus companies are the ones to blame, no-one else.

        Reply
  25. Fcuk Da Lu Ren
    Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 6:34 pm

    Hey, does anyone know Kai’s email?

    Reply
  26. Chongu
    Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 11:31 pm

    Most chinese people are unaware about this incidents. Because chinese medias are not allowed to publish or broadcast something which is against the “Government” or the “Country”.

    Government banned many websites which was exposing many truth about china. (eg: youtube).

    After all chinese people will say “Chinese Government is Awesome”!!! (reason: they know nothing about other countries/china itself, they get only government filtered news)

    Reply
  27. Overseas Chinese
    Friday, June 19, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    Looks like terrorism

    The worst thing I hate about the Chinese government is that its a pussy little government that isnt willing to use force like the USA against terrorists

    WE should kill off the tibetans and muslims

    Reply
  28. Omer
    Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 8:16 am

    Westerners phobiac minds always link a single death of an ant to terrorism. THis was an accident. And accident also happen in your glorious USA. huh,

    Reply
  29. Mercator
    Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 10:38 pm

    Omer, I think most of the suspicion of terrorism is coming from the Chinese.

    To have one bus catch fire can be described as an accident. Two begins to look like carelessness/poor maintenance/systemic problems.

    Reply
  30. The Grudge
    Friday, July 3, 2009 at 12:00 am

    Time to bring back to life this old thread, for all the fucktards that still don’t get it.

    http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6692266.html

    Deadly bus blaze in SW China deliberate

    “A blaze that engulfed a bus in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, which killed 27 people and injured 74 in early June, is believed to be the work of an arsonist, local police said Thursday.

    The man, identified as 62-year-old unemployed Zhang Yunliang, a native from Suzhou city of eastern Jiangsu Province who temporarily lived in Chengdu, burnt to death at the rear of the bus after setting the fire, police said.

    Police said that Zhang had threatened suicide after his family reduced financial support to him.”

    Now, whether or not you believe the last line of the articles, is up to you…

    Lot’s of “suicidal” people and “arsonists” people in China these days… All isolated and non related cases of course.

    Reply
  31. Chris in Shenzhen
    Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 8:44 am

    I think I’ll keep forking out my RMB for my private driver. No way I’m ever getting on a crowded bus here in China.

    Reply
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