Accident Video From China: Driver Smoking in Van Carrying Gas Tanks Plows in Pedestrian on Busy Shopping Street
A driver smoking in a van carrying gas tanks plows in pedestrians after he lost control of the vehicle and injured 18 on Nanjing road; three are critically injured.
Shanghai, February 2: A driver smoking inside a van carrying gas tanks lost control of the vehicle and ploughed into pedestrians in a busy area of central Shanghai on Friday morning, injuring at least 18 people including three seriously, city authorities said. The police confirmed that it was an accident.
A brief official announcement said that the acccident occurred around 9.00 am, when crowds of people would have been on their way to work. According to the state-run People's Daily, the driver was smoking while driving the van and cause fire in the van which was carrying gas tanks. Some reports have said that the the van was moving toward Nanjing Road West and hit people along the way before coming to a halt at the entrance of coffee store Starbucks. Nanjing Road is the main shopping street of Shanghai and is one of the world's busiest shopping streets.
As reports keep coming in, its clear that the accident could have been catastrophic had the gas tanks exploded and the vehicle not stopped at the street. The Shanghai People's Congress had already issued the city's first smoking control law in March 2010. The law bans smoking in 12 types of public places including indoor smoking at schools, hospitals, sport stadiums, public transport vehicles and Internet cafes. The police said that the incident is under further investigation. (With Agency Inputs)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 02, 2018 12:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).