Beijing intensifies bus safety after Yunnan explosion

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-31 21:28

BEIJING - Beijing is deploying 25,000 security personnel on public buses and bus stations to ensure safety, after deadly bus explosions in southwest China's Kunming city killed two and injured 14 on July 21.

The security personnel, comprising mechanics, management and support personnel of the Beijing Public Transport Holdings Ltd., will be deployed "at every bus station and on every bus" starting from August 1, according to Zhang Guoguang, company president.

In total, 15,000 security personnel would work at bus stations while the rest would be on buses to check luggage they found "suspicious." They would be identified by a red band on their arm reading "Beijing bus security check" in Chinese.

Passengers carrying contraband goods would be asked to discard the goods, otherwise they would be advised not to take the bus. The security personnel would report to the police if suspicious passengers insisted on boarding the bus, Zhang said.

Bus drivers and conductors would also help with security checks if necessary, he said.

Beijing has about 350 existing bus routes. The public transport system will be able to move 21.1 million passengers daily during the Olympics and Paralympics.

Zhang said the move was to ensure the safety of passengers during the Olympics, but did not say when the security checks would end.

Explosions, just over one hour apart, on two public buses in Kunming, Yunnan Province, killed two and injured 14 earlier this month.

A group calling itself the Turkistan Islamic Party claimed responsibility on Saturday for the explosions as well as several other incidents. They included an attack on police in the eastern city of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, on July 17 with an explosive-laden tractor, and the bombing of a plastics factory in the southern city of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, on the same day.

But Chinese authorities refuted the claims, citing they had no evidence the group was involved. Yunnan police have tripled the reward to 300,000 yuan (US$43,864) for information that could help to solve the two blasts.