Didi suspends Hitch service after female passenger killed

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China's leading ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing on Sunday said it would suspend its Hitch service nationwide after a female passenger was raped and killed allegedly by a driver of the carpooling service in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou.

Didi said that the service would be taken down from Monday. Meanwhile, two senior executives have been removed from their posts.

The company said that it would reevaluate the product's business model, rectify mistakes and upgrade customer service.

The tragedy happened only three months after a similar murder incident sparked wide public rage on the safety of the car-hailing service and the platform.

The victim, a 20-year-old female passenger, surnamed Zhao, in Yueqing in east China's Zhejiang Province, took a Didi Hitch car on Friday afternoon. An hour later she sent a "help" text message to friends before losing contact, according to the statement Yueqing police posted on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform.

On Saturday morning, the police arrested the suspect, a 27-year-old Didi driver surnamed Zhong who admitted that he raped and killed the victim, the statement said.

This incident has gone viral on China's social media, with an array of web users vigorously denouncing Didi and believing its apology wasn't sincere. Quite a few social media users said they will no longer use any services the company provides because "there is no 'reset' button in life."

The Road Transport Management Bureau of Zhejiang Province on the same day held urgent talks with Didi and demanded a prompt overhaul, during which its Hitch services throughout the region should be suspended.

Didi apologized on Saturday afternoon. "We are deeply sorry. We fell short of your expectations, and we have the inescapable responsibility," it said in a statement.

Didi said the suspect has no criminal record and he registered as a Didi driver with real documents but was using a fake car plate when committing the crime.

The company also said it "blames itself" for failing to follow and deal with a passenger's complaint about the suspect, submitted just a day before Zhao was killed.

The complaint said that the suspect drove to a remote place and followed the passenger after she got out of the car, according to Didi's statement.

Right after the victim sent a "help" message, her family and friends immediately contacted Didi customer service and reported to the local police. However, Didi did not offer information about the driver to the police until several hours later, according to media reports.

Didi explained in the statement that the company could not give information about the platform's users to anyone other than police in order to protect users' privacy.