Residents in Harbin are concerned about a spate of fires on the city's buses.

In this capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, there have already been 11 cases of buses going up in flames since the beginning of this year.

That is the same as last year's total, according to the Harbin Municipal Public Transportation Security Department.

On May 27, two buses suddenly caught fire while in operation.

The drivers and passengers ran for their lives.

All that remained after the flames were put out were two charred shells.

Luckily, no casualties were reported in any of this year's cases.

Yang Binxuan, spokesman for the department, told China Daily the increase in buses bursting into flames may be connected to more buses using both gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Most fires occurred on such vehicles.

He said these buses need special maintenance on their LPG pipes.

"The main cause of the fires is a lack of maintenance and bus drivers operating the buses incorrectly," he said.

"The fuel units on some buses may easily produce some sparks while in operation," he added.

"If an LPG pipe leaks, a fire can follow."

Yang also blamed the poor quality of drivers employed by some small bus companies.

"Some did not receive any training on how to drive an LPG-powered bus before they started driving," he said.

With the aim of saving more energy and better protecting the environment, Harbin started to promote LPG as an alternative fuel on vehicles in 1999.

Yin Jinzuo, from the Harbin Double-fuel Promotion Office, said: "We won't allow any hidden technological dangers to lurk on the buses."

Yang called for passengers to be tolerant as the situation is being dealt with.

(China Daily June 9, 2005)