18 Hurt When Vehicle Plows Into Pedestrians In Downtown Shanghai; Accident Suspected
SHANGHAI (CBSNewYork/CBS News/AP) -- Eighteen people were hospitalized after a vehicle plowed into pedestrians in downtown Shanghai Friday local time, Chinese state media reported.
Shanghai police believe minivan crash was accident and not attack.
#BREAKING 18 hospitalized after a car hits pedestrians in #Shanghai's Huangpu District on Friday morning; cause of the incident under investigation pic.twitter.com/wsgDTmZaCW
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) February 2, 2018
Three people were seriously injured, Reuters reported.
Authorities say the driver was smoking while transporting gas tanks.
Local media reports say the vehicle was carrying six people along with the gas tanks when it veered into a sidewalk near People's Park in central Shanghai.
Videos on social media show people lying unconscious on the pavement next to a Starbucks cafe and firefighters trying to extinguish a blaze inside the van.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)