A vehicle careened through a crowd and burst into flames near Tiananmen Square on Monday killing at least five people and injuring 38 in the very heart of Beijing, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In addition to the three who died in the vehicle, a female tourist from the Philippines and a male Chinese tourist also were killed. Another 38 people were injured, including three Philippine tourists and one Japanese tourist.
Beijing police said the incident occurred around noon on Monday after a vehicle drove through a crowd of pedestrians before slamming into a guard rail outside the Forbidden City, one of China's most famous tourist attractions, which draws thousands of visitors each day. Xinhua described the vehicle as a Jeep, and photos of the event showed a sport-utility vehicle, but its make wasn't clear, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Xinhua News agency, China's State-run news outlet, sent the following tweets under its handle XHNews regarding the incident.
At 1 p.m. they said "A motor vehicle went into the crowd in front of the Tian'anmen Rostrum Monday noon."
Around 2 p.m. came another tweet, the first to offer details on the victims:
"A driver, 2 passengers confirmed dead after a jeep went into crowd and caught fire in front of Tian'anmen Rostrum Beijing Monday noon."
The crash temporarily blocked off a busy area in the heart of the Chinese capital as rescuers and police rushed to the scene.
Photographs circulating on social media showed a vehicle engulfed in flames in Tiananmen Square, CNN reported. They weren't able to verify the authenticity of the images.
Authorities moved quickly to tackle the blaze and clear up the scene. But the cause of the deadly crash remained unclear.
Tiananmen Square is China's most politically sensitive landmark as a result of the events of June 4, 1989, when government forces opened fire on civilians to quash pro-democracy demonstrations.
