| 2022 Guizhou bus crash | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Details | |
| Date | 18 September 2022 2:40 a.m.[1] |
| Location | Sandu County,Qiannan,Guizhou,China |
| Coordinates | 25°58′10″N107°48′35″E / 25.969495°N 107.809649°E /25.969495; 107.809649 |
| Statistics | |
| Vehicles | 1 |
| Passengers | 47 |
| Deaths | 27 |
| Injured | 20 |
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In the early morning of 18 September 2022, 27 people were killed and 20 injured in a bus crash inSandu Shui Autonomous County,Qiannan Prefecture,Guizhou,People's Republic of China (PRC). The bus overturned on a hilly section[2] of the highway that goes fromGuiyang toLibo.[3] The bus was transporting 47 people to a quarantine facility.[3]
The accident occurred at 2:40 a.m.[4][1] A circulating unverified photo shows a passenger bus towed by a truck, with a completely crumpled top.[1]
China is a country withzero-COVID policies, where cities goes into a lockdown after a few positive cases. Local officials are responsible for controlling the virus and keeping outbreaks under control. The COVID-19 data of the day of the crash showed Guizhou had a spike in cases from 154 to 712 new confirmed cases the day before, being almost 70% of new COVID cases in China. It was announced that due to limited capacity in Guiyang, people needed quarantine "need to be transported to sister cities and states".[3]
According to theSpecification for road passenger transportation enterprise safety management (Chinese:《道路旅客运输企业安全管理规范》),[5] passenger buses are not allowed to drive on the highway from 2a.m. to 5a.m.[4]
The bus departed fromYunyan District at 12:10 a.m., carrying 47 people, 45 of whom were "related to the COVID-19", plus one driver and one staff.[6][7] When the bus was on the way fromSandu Shui Autonomous County toLibo County, leaving 32 kilometres (20 mi) from the Sandu County at 2:40 a.m., the bus overturned and fell into the roadside deep ditch.[6][7]
As a result of the public anger, it was announced on 20 September that three officials in charge of the Yunyan district were fired by Guiyang.[8][9]
The accident caused anger by Chinese citizens over the strict COVID policies in China and the lack of transparency from authorities.[3] It also raised commotion that the bus was traveling during the night, while many major roads in the region were closed.[1] A woman who claimed to be the daughter of one of the victims wrote a note on social media saying she could "not accept" her mother's death.[4]
Multiple widely shared blogs about the accident, particularly the critical ones, were deleted fromWeChat.[3] One of the most popular comments about the crash at WeChat is: "All of us are on this bus", indicating a form of powerlessness.[3] The accident became on Sunday afternoon a top trending topic atWeibo, but suddenly it disappeared from the top-50 trending topics.[3]
Hu Xijin, the former editor in chief of theGlobal Times and usually a defender of the zero-COVID policy, doubted why the bus was still on the way after 2 a.m. He questioned onSina Weibo that "why did Guiyang city have to transport quarantine subjects in a manner that is suspected of serious violations?" and "for such a large-scale, long-distance transport, did it really have to be done so late at night, and was there really no alternative?"[6]
During a press conference, the deputy mayor of Guiyang apologized for the accident, bowed and had a moment of silence.[8]
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