A commuter bus operating during rush hour in the northeast Chinese city of Shenyang was hit by a mysterious explosion on Saturday, which killed one and injured 42 more.
The moment of the explosion was caught on a security camera and has subsequently appeared on social media. The bus was driving in busy traffic when the explosion occurred.
The Chinese state-run television station, CGTN reported Shenyang police responded to the explosion at around 5:55 p.m. near the intersection of Huanghe Street and Ningshan Road in Shenyang’s Huanggu District.
The cause of the explosion is under active investigation.
Witnesses said they heard a loud bang from the explosion but the bus did not catch on fire. A trader at a nearby shop said the wreck “was deformed” and the ground was “full of glass fragments,” the South China Morning Post reported.
“After receiving the alarm, provincial and municipal leaders and personnel from public security, emergency, first aid and other departments rushed to the scene for disposal as soon as possible,” Shenyang police said in a post on the Chinese social media app Weibo, the South China Morning Post reported.
CGTN reported that among the 42 wounded, two sustained critical injuries. The other 40 people suffered “minor injuries,” according to Shenyang authorities.
The bus explosion incident comes amid heightened security concerns while China hosts the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Shenyang is about a two-hour flight from the Olympic host city of Beijing.
Beijing remains sealed off from the rest of the country and the rest of the world as part of China’s added COVID-19 security precautions for the games. In the weeks before the games, China’s Ministry of Public Security said it would enact added security protocols to “create a safe, stable and harmonious social environment for the Winter Olympics” and allow for “zero mistakes” and “zero accidents.”
Shenyang was also the site of another recent explosion. In October, CNN reported three people were killed and 30 more were injured at a restaurant located in a mixed-use residential and commercial building in the city after a gas explosion.
A car’s dashcam captured video of the explosion, which occurred in broad daylight.
Images from the aftermath showed windows had been blown out, concrete slabs had fallen from the structure and nearby vehicles and buildings were also damaged.
About 25 fire trucks and 110 firefighters responded to the October gas explosion. The response became a search and rescue effort as authorities sorted through the rubble.
