Eight people were killed and 22 injured after a hijacked bus crashed into pedestrians in east China’s Fujian province on Tuesday afternoon, state media reported. A hijacker carrying a knife has been detained and is being investigated by local police
The incident happened at about 15:20pm in the city of Longyan. A policeman was among those confirmed dead.
In a video posted by Duowei news, several injured people were shown lying on the street near a crashed bus, its front badly damaged. It also showed police wrestling a person to the ground.
Blood could also be seen on the steps of the bus, which had been stopped in the middle of a road. State-run news agency Xinhua reported the suspect was a 48 year old local man surnamed Qiu.
He had attacked a female passenger before taking control of the bus. Police say that on the day of the attack the suspect had quarrelled with a local official who had visited his home, adding that the pair had a long history of conflict.
The 22 wounded in the attack were taken to local hospitals, with one person being treated for “serious injures”, says Xinhua.
China has also suffered a spate of similar incidents this year. In late November a car ploughed into a group of children crossing a street in front of an elementary school in the north eastern Liaoning province, killing five people and injuring at least 19.
The driver said he “chose his victims at random” and had reportedly been contemplating suicide due to domestic troubles before the tragedy occurred.
In October, three people were killed when a man fleeing after committing a stabbing drove into a crowd and attacked onlookers in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
