Charlottesville,VA : Van carrying gas canisters injures 18 in Shanghai crash on February, Friday 2nd 2018

The driver of a minivan hauling gas canisters in Shanghai set fire to his vehicle while smoking a cigarette and plowed into pedestrians Friday, leaving 18 people injured in the heart of the Chinese financial hub, police said.

Police ruled out the possibility of a deliberate attack and described the crash as an accident. The 40-year-old minivan driver, whom police identified only by his surname Chen, lost control after a fire erupted in his van, which held several plastic bottles of gasoline as well as six canisters of liquid gas.

A cigarette butt found by investigators in the van likely started the fire, Shanghai police said in a statement Friday evening. They said Chen had been alone in the vehicle.


Chen was being treated for severe smoke inhalation and was in a coma, and nine other people were still hospitalized, police said. Chen works for a Shanghai metals company and had no criminal record but is now under suspicion for transporting dangerous materials.

The incident, which took place during a morning commute period near Shanghai's People's Park and a vast plaza that is also home to the headquarters of the municipal government, provided a brief scare for a city that was hosting British Prime Minister Theresa May. Vehicle attacks by extremists have killed scores globally in recent years, including some in Chinese cities.

The minivan veered onto a sidewalk and burst into flames around 9 a.m. on busy Nanjing West Road in the heart of Shanghai, a metropolis of almost 25 million people that is widely regarded as China's most cosmopolitan city.

"It couldn't stop, crashed into the corner and caught fire," said a cleaner who works in a building across the street from the crash site. Like many Chinese, she asked only to be identified by her surname, Xu.

She told The Associated Press she saw smoke coming out of the van as it drove down the street before careening out of control.

The website of the local Xinmin Wanbao newspaper and other local news media said the van struck five to six people waiting for a light change at a busy pedestrian crossing.

Videos on social media showed injured people lying on the pavement next to a Starbucks cafe and others pinned under the tires of the van. Firefighters were seen trying to put out a blaze inside the vehicle.

Xu, the cleaner, said she saw two men struggling to pull a person out of the van. "Other people told them to stop. Then the police and ambulance arrived," she said.

A man who witnessed the crash on his way to People's Park said in a video interview carried by Chinese media that the minivan seemed to be moving fast as it veered across the road.

"The minivan did not slow down. The driver must have been in a panic at the time. He didn't slow down and just directly crashed," said the witness, who wasn't identified. "It was on the other side of the road and made a turn over to this side. People saw it and quickly tried to get away but a lot of people were still hit."

The man said firefighters removed liquefied gas canisters from the vehicle.

At the nearby Changzheng Hospital, Shanghai resident Liu Axing told AP that his daughter, Liu Jianying, was crossing the street on her way to work when she was struck by the van.

She was undergoing surgery for a broken shoulder and pelvis, Liu said as he pulled up a picture on his phone of his daughter pinned under the vehicle's front wheel, seemingly unconscious.

Three people were more seriously injured than her, Liu added.

A relative of one patient in the emergency room, who declined to be identified, said at least five or six crash patients were being treated there.

Source :
Woman