A woman was injured when a German man hijacked and then crashed the taxi in which she was a passenger in northeast Beijing.
The taxi driver surnamed Wang, from Tianming Taxi Company, said the attack happened on Saturday at 4 am, when the woman hailed his taxi near the Holiday Inn Lido in the Wangjing area.
The Mongolian woman asked Wang to drive her to Baiziwan in south Beijing.
However, a German man, known only as Thomas, then dragged Wang out of the car. Thomas got behind the wheel and drove off, with the foreign woman still in the passenger seat, Wang said.
Police said Thomas crashed the taxi into a tree near Siyuan Bridge at about 5.30 am. He died instantly and the woman was injured.
Police have refused to comment on whether or not the couple was known to each other.
The Beijing municipal police department said an identity card confirmed the man was from Germany and aged 21 years. He also carried a Siemens employee badge.
Police said the hijacker's name was Thomas, but refused to provide further details.
The police media spokesman said details surrounding the crash were still being investigated yesterday.
The Germany Embassy said it was unaware of the crash and so could not comment.
A Siemens China press officer said the company could not confirm whether Thomas was an employee.
The injured woman was taken to China-Japan Friendship Hospital for treatment.
A female staff member at the hospital told METRO that according to medical records, there was only one foreign woman sent for emergency treatment due to a traffic accident on Saturday morning, and the woman is from Mongolia.
The woman suffered leg and eye injuries, but had been discharged from hospital.
The Beijing Tianming Taxi Company was unavailable to comment yesterday.
