The Chinese transport company Didi Chuxing suspends Uber car-pool app Didi Hitch after a driver has raped and killed a 20-year-old female passenger on Friday. The driver was arrested and put in suspect, according to the police.
According to the authorities, the 20-year-old woman had applied for a ride on Friday at around 1 pm via the app in the port city of Wenzhou. An hour later she sent another message to a friend in which she asked for help. Then all contact was broken.
On Saturday morning the police could pick up a 27-year-old man who worked as a driver for the carpool service. During the interrogation, the man would have known that he had raped and killed his passenger, according to the police. Later her body was also recovered.
The incident occurred barely a day after another female passenger had lodged a complaint with the company about the driver involved. The young man would have put the woman in an abandoned environment and followed her there after she got out, reports the English News.
Didi now admits that it did not act quickly enough after that complaint. The responsible for the app Didi Hitch has been dismissed in the meantime, just like the chairman of the customer service.
The company was previously under fire after the brutal murder of an air hostess in May. The company then promised to tighten the internal rules.
The Chinese transport minister now demands that Didi “stop making empty promises” and “finally take measures to increase the safety of the passengers”.