Didi stops hitching service in China after second murder – and admits it was warned about accused driver
Taxi hailing service dismisses two staff and suspends hitching nationwide amid public anger following death of 20-year-old woman and driver’s arrest
Didi Chuxing, China’s largest taxi hailing service provider, has said it will suspend its hitching service on Monday, after the second murder of a woman passenger in three months – and admitted it failed to investigate an earlier complaint from another woman about the driver accused of the killing.
China’s police and transport ministry said on Sunday that Didi had “unshirkable responsibility” for the passenger being raped and killed by a driver in the eastern city of Wenzhou.
The halt of the company’s “hitch” function, which allows car owners to provide taxi services, came in response to public anger and will take effect nationwide. Known as China’s answer to Uber, Didi has also sacked two senior members of staff and begun an internal assessment of the service, it said in a statement on Sunday.
Its reaction came a day after police in Yueqing, in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, said they had found the body of a 20-year-old woman surnamed Zhao and arrested a Didi driver who had allegedly confessed to her rape and murder on Friday.
According to the police’s official microblog, Zhao had entered a Didi carpool vehicle at 1pm on Friday, and sent a message asking a friend for help at around 2pm before losing contact.