Faulty bus bursts into life, runs over 1 pedestrian on Xizang Rd

A bus that tried to restart after a mechanical failure went out of control and hit a young man near the downtown People's Square yesterday, crushing his left leg that needs to be amputated, Shanghai Morning Post reported today. The intercity bus heading for Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces suddenly lurched backward onto Xizang Road M. at 7:40pm as the driver tried to get the engine restarted, a witness said. Many people jumped out of the way except the 25-year-old bank employee surnamed Liang, who was knocked down and one bus wheel rolled over his left shank. The bus was finally stopped by curbside flowerbed. A witness in a nearby shop said the bus had parked at the intersection of Guangdong Road and Xizang Road for more than one hour and the bus driver, in his 30s, had called for emergency repair, which didn't appear. So, the driver decided to restart the bus himself. After being run over by the bus, Liang was somber enough to borrow a cell phone from a passer-by to call his family. Meanwhile, the driver was taken away by police, the report said. Liang's father told the newspaper that doctors at the Changzheng Hospital had asked him to sign an agreement to amputate his son's leg. The father said his son graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University a year ago and was working in a branch office of Bank of China in a nearby street.