{"id":5414,"date":"2018-11-02T11:33:29","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T07:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/?p=5414"},"modified":"2018-11-02T11:33:29","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T07:33:29","slug":"fist-fight-causes-fatal-china-bus-plunge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/2018\/11\/02\/fist-fight-causes-fatal-china-bus-plunge\/","title":{"rendered":"Fist fight causes fatal China bus plunge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Security footage from a bus which crashed into a river in China has revealed that the driver was fighting with a passenger moments earlier.<\/p>\n

The bus plunged 50m (164ft) off a bridge into the Yangtze River in Chongqing on Sunday – at least 13 people died and two more are missing.<\/p>\n

Early reports said the bus had swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle.<\/p>\n

But the new footage shows the driver was being hit by a passenger and then struck her back.<\/p>\n

The bus, travelling at speed, then turns into the opposite lane and smashes through the safety barriers, before the footage cuts out.<\/p>\n

Police have said the fight was the cause of the crash, state newspaper China Daily reports.<\/p>\n

Passengers can be heard screaming in the disturbing footage, shared by Chinese state media.<\/p>\n

\"Driver<\/span>
A woman, off camera, is seen hitting the driver and he strikes her back<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Security<\/span>
The bus then swerves across the road, and the footage cuts out<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Security<\/span>
Dashcam footage from an oncoming vehicle shows the bus crashing through the security barriers<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Police said the passenger, identified as a 48-year-old woman with the surname Liu, was angry that the bus had missed her stop.<\/p>\n

They said she hit the driver, named Ran, with her mobile phone when he refused to stop and let her off.<\/p>\n

Witnesses had said they saw the bus swerve across to the wrong side of the road before crashing through a safety barrier in Wanzhou district.<\/p>\n

A huge rescue operation was mounted with teams of divers and dozens of boats and cranes deployed. But there have been no reports of survivors.<\/p>\n

The wreckage of the bus was pulled out of the river from a depth of 71m on Wednesday night. Several of the passengers’ bodies had to be retrieved by divers.<\/p>\n

The crash, on well-maintained and relatively quiet bridge, has shocked China.<\/p>\n

Social media comments on Friday widely blamed the passenger for the crash, though some also criticised the driver for reacting.<\/p>\n

One poster on Weibo, Wanten888, said: “If we see any passenger quarrelling with bus driver, we shouldn’t stay quiet!”<\/p>\n

Another said it was “heartbreaking” to hear the terrified passengers, while a Weibo user called Liza said there should be a law banning passengers from distracting bus drivers.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Security footage from a bus which crashed into a river in China has revealed that the driver was fighting with a passenger moments earlier. The bus plunged 50m (164ft) off a bridge into the Yangtze River in Chongqing on Sunday – at least 13 people died and two more are missing. Early reports said the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5426,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5414\/revisions\/5426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}