Chengdu bus fire kills 25 people, with 76 injured

Shanghai, June 5 (Gasgoo.com) Twenty-five people were killed and 76 injured this morning when a bus caught fire in southwestern China's Chengdu city, state media reported.

Police said the cause of the blaze in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, remained under investigation, state news agency Xinhua reported. The blaze erupted at about 8:00 am (0000 GMT) when the bus passed near the zoo in the northern part of the city, state television reported.

More than 10 people managed to escape the flames, according to Xinhua. The news agency quoted a reporter at the scene as saying several ambulances had been dispatched. Photos and videos taken live from the blaze were posted on Chinese websites showing a bus engulfed in flames and casualties covered in blood.

National broadcaster CCTV cited witnesses as saying the sealed, air-conditioned bus caught fire without an explosion, and then burned rapidly. Like many vehicles in Chengdu, the bus ran on natural gas rather than gasoline. A gas leak aboard a sealed bus could cause a major fire if it grew dense enough and was ignited by a spark.

Previous fires and explosions aboard public buses in China have been blamed on rogue bombers or revenge seekers, but mechanical problems of vehicles are not uncommon. Similar bus fires, less deadly, were also reported in other Chinese cities such Shanghai in recent months.

The government's updated report by mid-afternoon raised the death toll of the Chengdu bus fire to 25 people, and said 76 were being treated at a pair of hospitals. More than two dozen of those injured were considered serious, it said.

Local officials reportedly rushed to the scene of the accident immediately after the fire to direct the rescue operations of fire fighters, medical workers and local residents.