A bus accident in southwest China last week that killed 21 people and injured 15 others was caused by the driver, who deliberately headed for a reservoir because he was angry at the demolition of his home, police said.
Tuesday’s accident, which also killed the driver, sparked a torrent of pain; Some of the passengers included students traveling to take the Chinese university entrance exam.
Police in Anshun, a city in Guizhou province, said in a statement Sunday that the 52-year-old driver, identified only by his last name, Zhang, had suffered an offense for the demolition of his home that morning. The driver crashed the passenger bus, police said, to send a message.
“Due to his dissatisfaction with the circumstances of his life and the demolition of rented public housing and to cause a stir, he has committed extreme crimes that endanger public safety,” the police report said.
Authorities said the driver had rented a 430-square-foot unit in a state-owned public housing structure included in a redevelopment plan. He signed an agreement in June to receive $ 10,000 in compensation, but did not claim the amount. His requests for public housing were rejected, but plans for the demolition of the building continued.
The case sheds light on the often silent victims displaced by China’s urban redevelopment schemes, in which state-sponsored developers demolish dilapidated and dilapidated buildings in dilapidated neighborhoods to build gleaming office towers, centers commercial and expensive housing.
On Tuesday morning, the bus driver called a government hotline to complain that his house was about to be demolished before he could receive government housing, according to the police report.
He then exchanged shifts with a colleague and bought some baijiu, a colorless alcoholic beverage, which he brought to work in a bottle of water. He left some voice messages for his girlfriend on WeChat, expressing weariness and disgust with the world, and took a sip from the bottle before starting his shift, according to the police report.
The security video showed that the bus crossed three lanes of oncoming traffic around noon Tuesday while traveling along Hongshan Lake in Anshun. He then plunged into a series of low terraces and plunged into the lake, plunging into more than 30 feet of water.
Some of the passengers were students preparing to take the gaokao, the national university-level exam, reported The Paper, a Shanghai-based online state publication. At least five of those killed were students, authorities said.
The gaokao, which started on Tuesday, was delayed by a month due to the coronavirus pandemic. More than 10 million students participate this year.
Caixin, a Chinese-language magazine, published an article on Friday about the demolition of the bus driver’s house and his efforts to stop it. The story, which generated sympathy for working-class residents displaced by China’s urban redevelopment projects, was later disconnected.
Anshun government authorities said in a statement Sunday that they would investigate the demolition and any mistakes made in the process.
Austin Ramzy contributed reporting.
