Cellphone explosion on bus investigated

• Source: Global Times
• [10:15 July 13 2010]
• Comments

Passengers board a No.95 bus at Shanghai Railway Station in Zhabei district last night. Photo: Shen Weihuang

By Shen Weihuang

Various sources have confirmed to the Global Times that police are investigating a suspected cellphone explosion on a bus at Shanghai Railway Station in Zhabei district on Sunday.

Police met the No.95 bus at the station at around 10 am on Sunday, a traffic assistant who was at the scene told the Global Times Monday.

"I heard that the bus driver called the police after arriving at Shanghai Railway Station, although the explosion happened before the bus arrived," said the traffic assistant, who asked not to be identified. "About 30 policemen came to the scene to investigate."

According to the owner of a newspaper stand near the railway station, who wished to remain anonymous, police did not take anyone away from the scene. He added that no one seemed to have been injured in the blast, and that there was no visible damage to the exterior of the bus.

Sources in local authorities who asked not to be named confirmed to the Global Times that a cellphone explosion was being investigated, but that details still remained unclear.

A policeman at the bus terminal at Shanghai Railway Station, who asked not to be identified, told the Global Times Monday that it was not a big incident as none of his colleagues were talking about it. "In my experience, if anything big happens, it will provoke hot discussion among the police," he said.

On May 6 this year, a man surnamed Tang told a ticket collector on a bus in Putuo district that he was carrying explosives. Police cordoned off the area and checked the box the man was carrying, but discovered only nutritional supplements.

An explosion on the No.842 bus near Guoquan Road in Yangpu district on May 5, 2008 left three dead and 12 injured. An investigation determined that a passenger had been carrying flammable articles.