Chinese police launched a criminal investigation Saturday into a horrific bus blaze that claimed the lives of 47 people, and identified a suspect in connection with the inferno

Chinese police launched a criminal investigation Saturday into a horrific bus blaze that claimed the lives of 47 people, and identified a suspect in connection with the inferno.
  
While stopping short of saying they believed the fire had been started deliberately, authorities announced that the fire, which engulfed the bus in minutes during evening rush hour in the southeastern city of Xiamen, was being treated as a "criminal case".
 
City officials told a news conference the criminal probe was launched after initial investigations showed the accelerant was petrol, while the bus was equipped with a diesel engine.
  
The investigation by experts and police also showed that the tyres and tank of the bus "remained complete", Xinhua said. A "suspect has been identified", a message posted by Xiamen police on its verified page on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, said.
  
A 59-year-old man's apartment had been searched and some items were taken away by police, the Tencent news website said. There were no further details on the police investigation, but Xinhua reported that bus station staff were making "strict safety checks on passenger's luggage" on Saturday.
  
About 100 people were on the Xiamen bus when it caught fire -- China's deadliest transport accident in recent years.