SHANGHAI, February 2. /TASS/. A minivan plowed into a crowd in a busy pedestrian area in downtown Shanghai on Friday, injuring 17 people, local transport police said.
The minivan, carrying gas cylinders, burst into flames, veered onto a sidewalk and hit a group of pedestrians outside a Starbucks coffee house. The firefighters extinguished the flame quickly. Several people inside the vehicle suffered burns.
More of #Shanghai minivan crash: Witnesses said the vehicle caught fire before crashing into a fence in front of a coffee shop. The cause of the incident is being investigated https://t.co/4Sbkw07KxP (Courtesy: witness) pic.twitter.com/hbF1cHQijQ
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) 2 February 2018
Preliminary investigation shows that vehicle went up in flames when the driver lit a cigarette.