A taxi driver abandoned his cab and ran away in panic on Saturday night in Tianjin City after he thought a female passenger was a ghost because she spilled tomato sauce on her face while they were driving past a graveyard, a Fujian based newspaper reported today.

The driver, who was out of breath when he met policemen, said that he picked up a female passenger, who was dressed in a theatrical costume, at Baochi Hotel at 3am in Baochi District. The passenger looked "in pain" after getting into the car and did not speak, pointing in the direction she wanted to go, the Strait News newspaper said.

When the car passed by a graveyard, the driver felt the passenger looked like a ghost from some frightening stories and stopped the car, the report said.

When he looked back, the woman's face was "covered in blood," the report added, citing the driver.

Police then received a phone call from a woman who said she was abandoned by a cab driver in an outlying graveyard in Xinkaikou County.

The police met the terrified driver on their way to the graveyard who said he had encountered a "female ghost," the report said.

They went back to the car together.

The passenger, surnamed Wang, is a local actress who had just finished a performance. She did not take off the costume because she wanted to get home quickly, the report said.

Wang did not speak because she had lost her voice during her performance, the report added.

Wang was holding a box of tomato sauce when the cabbie stopped the car. The "blood-like" sauce splashed on her face because the driver stopped too fast, the report said, citing police.

(Shanghai Daily April 7, 2008)