BEIJING: Chinese police arrested a man suspected of starting a bus fire on Tuesday that killed 17 people, state media reported.

Bus fires are not uncommon in China, where regulators have blamed some recent blazes on flawed auto design. In 2013, a bus fire blamed on a suicidal man killed 47 in the coastal city of Xiamen.

Flames engulfed the bus in front of a furniture store in the northern region of Ningxia. Thirty-two people were injured.

Police "surrounded and seized" the suspected arsonist after launching a manhunt, the official People's Daily said via its microblog.

Police in the country of Helan were investigating the blaze. State media did not mention any possible motives.