LINE

Text:AAAPrint
Society

Murder of 21-year-old Didi passenger causes safety concern

1
2018-05-11 14:53CGTN Editor: Gu Liping ECNS App Download

The tragedy of a young woman reportedly being murdered by a Didi driver has reverberated around Chinese social media, generating great discussion over the safety of using car-hailing services.

The 21-year-old flight attendant, the only daughter of her family, was believed to be killed by the driver when she was taking a Didi private car from central Chinese city Zhengzhou's airport hub to the downtown area on May 6.

The suspect carried a weapon and is still on the run, according to local police.

Didi Chuxing, China's largest car-hailing service platform, apologized in a public statement on Thursday and offered a reward of up to one million yuan (158,000 US dollars) for clues of the suspect.

The company also said it has established a special team to cooperate with the police in searching for the suspect.

The tragedy is not the first case of a driver attacking a Didi passenger.

A passenger surnamed Zhang, who also claimed to be an investor in Didi, said on April 29 he was attacked by a Didi driver when he wanted to cancel an order.

In 2016, a Didi driver in Shenzhen, southern China's Guangdong Province, drove the victim, a 24-year-old female, to a remote area, then robbed and murdered her on the night of May 2.

All of the drivers in the three cases are registered as private car sharing drivers on Didi, prompting concerns that the platform does not properly check the backgrounds of its drivers, especially private car drivers, to ensure passenger safety.

In addition to hailing taxis, Didi also offers Uber-like service, including Didi Kuaiche, which uses private cars, and Didi Hitch, which matches drivers and passengers who share similar routes.

As a leading unicorn company in China, Didi offers car-hailing services in about 400 cities with 90 percent market share across the country.

Didi has become one of the world's most valuable startups. Investors assigned Didi a valuation of about 56 billion US dollars, surpassing Uber's 48 billion US dollars, Fortune reported in January.

  

Related news

MorePhoto

Most popular in 24h

MoreTop news

MoreVideo

News
Politics
Business
Society
Culture
Military
Sci-tech
Entertainment
Sports
Odd
Features
Biz
Economy
Travel
Travel News
Travel Types
Events
Food
Hotel
Bar & Club
Architecture
Gallery
Photo
CNS Photo
Video
Video
Learning Chinese
Learn About China
Social Chinese
Business Chinese
Buzz Words
Bilingual
Resources
ECNS Wire
Special Coverage
Infographics
Voices
LINE
Back to top Links | About Us | Jobs | Contact Us | Privacy Policy
Copyright ©1999-2018 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.