Official: Ensuring passenger safety is the baseline

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01:36

The Ministry of Transport of China said ensuring the safety of passengers is the baseline of the car-hailing industry. The announcement came after a young woman was murdered while riding in car provided by Didi Chuxing, China's leading online ride hailing platform.

The 21-year-old flight attendant landed in Henan's capital Zhengzhou, and used Didi to hitch a ride into the city.

Her last text message was to a colleague, complaining that the Didi driver was calling her beautiful and demanding to kiss her. But it was at that moment that the driver uninstalled the app and virtually erased any record of where he was heading.

"The driver didn't take the girl to her destination, and no signal from his car could be found on the platform. Didi said his data was gone. It's abnormal," local police officer Zhao Guangchao said.

Ensuring the safety of passengers is the basic line of the car-hailing industry, said the Ministry of Transport. /VCG Photo

No one knew where the driver was heading. The GPS in his car showed that he stopped in a desolate area far away from the city center for nearly half an hour.

The police believe that was when and where the tragedy began. "We also received messages from people around where the driver was. He stopped at the place for quite a long time. We have reasons to believe he was committing the murder," said another police officer Zhou Zhaozhao.

The driver abandoned his car and committed suicide by jumping into a nearby river.

Didi has admitted fault and apologized.

The Ministry has also announced plans to enhance regulation of the car-hailing industry. It says more needs to be done to verify the qualifications of potential drivers and to provide them with safety training.