18 injured after minivan crashes into pedestrians in Shanghai
Team Udayavani, Feb 2, 2018, 11:26 AM IST
Beijing: A minivan today crashed into pedestrians after veering onto a crowded sidewalk in China’s financial hub Shanghai, injuring 18 people, three of them seriously, according to media reports. Police, however, believe the crash was not intentional and it was an accident and not an attack, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The 40-year-old driver was identified by police as a man surnamed Chen. According to an initial investigation, he is thought to have been illegally transporting gas bottles and was smoking at the time of the crash. The champagne-coloured minivan was moving from Xinchang Road to West Nanjing Road when it went out of control and crashed into the sidewalk, the report said.
The vehicle was on fire before crashing into the sidewalk in front of the cafe around the Shanghai People’s Park, local media reported. Eighteen people were injured in the incident. Three of those injured are said to be in a serious condition, the report said.
A video posted by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post showed the van was on fire and thick smoke emanated from it. Photos posted on the Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter showed several people lying on the ground and firefighters trying to put off the fire.
A witness, identified only by her surname Qian, said that immediately after the incident, some passers-by broke the vehicle window with stones to get to the driver, Shanghai-based news portal The Paper reported. “I think the driver had passed out. People had to break the window to save him,” Qian was quoted as saying by Post.
Another witness, who was not identified, said: “There were gas bottles in the vehicle. The van was burning but the bottles did to catch fire”. “There were six persons in the van. A woman whom rescuers pulled out was badly burnt,” the witness said. A passer-by wrote in a WeChat post that a few people were trapped under the van after the incident.
Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.
Top News
Related Articles More
COP29: India rejects new USD 300 billion climate finance deal
Royal tour of India in offing for King Charles, Queen Camilla: Report
Indian-American leaders applaud PM Modi for inclusive growth in India
COP29: Civil society protests climate finance proposal, calls for ‘no deal’ over ‘bad deal’
Bomb disposal squad tackles ‘security incident’ at UK’s Gatwick Airport
MUST WATCH
Latest Additions
Fresh plea in SC seeks probe into US indictment of Gautam Adani
Sambhal violence orchestrated by BJP, govt to divert attention from poll rigging: Akhilesh
Cloth merchant booked for cheating raw material supplier of Rs 30 lakh
Congress to introspect Chelakkara bypoll debacle
Kapil Dev praises Bumrah for leading team from the front
Thanks for visiting Udayavani
You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.