All but one of 14 people injured in two bus explosions that killed two passengers?in Kunming?on Monday morning were out of life-threatening danger, the health department of southwest China's Yunnan Province said on Monday.
They were injured in separate explosions involving two Route 54 buses in Kunming, the provincial capital, on Monday. One blast occurred on West Renmin Road at 7:10 a.m., while the second was at the nearby intersection of Changyuan Road and West Renmin Road at 8:05 a.m..
The first blast killed one person and injured 10, while the second killed one and injured four.
Yunnan police said the blasts were from nitroamine explosives. They were put in the front part of the first bus and the rear of the second.
Ministry of Public Security experts arrived in Kunming to help investigate the explosions on Monday afternoon.
Police said they were going all out to solve the case and would release any information about progress made in their investigation.
One of the injured was a driver and the rest passengers. One of the injured, a woman, was fighting for her life in the No. 1 hospital affiliated with the Kunming Medical College.
Dong Guixian said she was seated close to the rear door of the second number 54 bus hit by the blast. She got on the vehicle at 7:10 a.m..
"There were only about six to seven passengers on the bus," said the 51-year-old woman. At around 8:05 a.m. when the bus was in the intersection of Changyuan Road and West Renmin Road, only several meters away from its final stop, the explosion occurred in the middle and rear parts of the bus, she remembered.
Dong said she saw the TV screen in front of her burst and sparkles here and there. "I immediately buried my head in my hands and stooped. I heard the sounds of glass cracking," she said.
After a few seconds, Dong said she could not hear any sound and then fainted. When she regained consciousness, she saw the driver coming to hold her.
Dong was being treated in Kunhua Hospital. Doctors said her eardrums were seriously damaged and would need an operation.
Most of the injured, half of them women, had inner-ear injuries and were depressed and reluctant to talk. They were sent to two hospitals after the blast.
A preliminary diagnosis showed most had concussions, said Chen Mingqing, hospital president, adding that comprehensive exams would determine if they had other injuries.
The dead were identified as a 30-year-old woman from Mouding in Chuxiong, Yunnan Province, and a 26-year-old man from the province's Lijiang Educational Science College in Dayan Town, according to the Provincial Bureau of Public Security.
Yunnan authorities ordered transport departments to tighten security by increasing patrols and setting up checkpoints to keep the perpetrators from fleeing. Security had also been stepped up at all border points.
(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2008)