Bulldozer crashes into market in Beijing; casualties unclear amid censorship

A driver of a bulldozer ran into a market in Beijing, causing an unknown number of casualties, according to witness accounts and videos circulating online. Chinese authorities have not commented and information about the incident is being censored on social media.

The incident happened at about 11 a.m. Saturday at Dahanji Market in Beijing’s Fangshan District, according to details reported by The Epoch Times. The market is a large, long-running rural market in southwestern Beijing.

Videos circulating online showed multiple people lying on the ground after the front loader drove into the market. Their conditions were not known.

The Epoch Times reported that a witness said the section of road was closed and that the bulldozer appeared to break through a checkpoint before entering the market. The outlet also reported that the driver, said to be a man in his 50s, was taken into police custody.

No official casualty figures were released. The Epoch Times said one comment seen on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, claimed that eight people had died, but that report could not be confirmed.

Searches for the market on Douyin returned no results, and related content on WeChat video channels had also been blocked, according to The Epoch Times. The outlet also said a report published by a local WeChat account was later removed and could no longer be found.