Blazing minivan ploughs into pedestrians in central Shanghai

Eighteen people were injured on Friday when a minivan caught fire and mounted the pavement in a busy part of central Shanghai and ploughed into pedestrians, said the police.

Investigations showed the fire was caused by a 40-year-old driver who was smoking a cigarette inside the vehicle while illegally transporting highly flammable substances, the Shanghai public security bureau said on its official Weibo feed.

The Shanghai government said in a short statement that the vehicle hit the pedestrians, injuring 18, three of them seriously. The car came to a stop in front of a Starbucks outlet. Two of those seriously injured had their conditions subsequently downgraded, the police said.

18
No. of people injured in the incident

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