Police: Fatal bus fire was arson

CHENGDU, China, July 4 (UPI) -- Police in Chengdu, China, say they believe a fatal bus fire in early June was deliberately set.

The fire in Sichuan Province killed 27 people, including the alleged arsonist, and injured 74. The state-run Xinhua news service identified the alleged arsonist as Zhang Yunliang, an unemployed 62-year-old native of Suzhou City in eastern Jiangsu Province who was living in Chengdu.

Survivors told police they smelled gasoline and they said they believed Zhang brought it in onto the bus in a plastic bucket at 7:40 p.m. June 5. They said Zhang boarded the bus at the start of the line in Tianhui Township and poured the gasoline as the bus approached the Chuanshan Viaduct in downtown Chengdu.

The investigation revealed Zhang poured gasoline from the rear toward the front of the bus. Police said they found a lighter near his body in the most severely burned section, the rear.