Arsonist Posted Complaint about Pay Dispute Just before Attack on Public Bus

(Beijing) – A construction worker who officials blame for an arson attack on a bus in the Ningxia region that killed 17 people and seriously injured several others posted a message on a popular social media platform just before the attack saying he was angry he was not being paid for work he did.

The attack in Yinchuan, the capital of the northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, turned a public bus into a ball of flames around 7 a.m. on January 5. The fire was put out within five minutes, the government has said, but many people were unable to escape the vehicle, which is why the death toll was so high.