An 11-year-old boy collides head­-on with a tourist bus as he riding on the wrong side of the road in Shanghai’s central Tiantong Road on March 26. [File Photo]

The family of an 11­-year-­old boy who died while rac­ing friends as he rode an Ofo bike in Shanghai have included the bike-­sharing company in a lawsuit against those involved in the crash.

The boy, who has not been identified, collided head­-on with a tourist bus as he rode on the wrong side of the road in the city’s central Tiantong Road on March 26. He died at a hospital shortly after the crash.

His parents originally filed their lawsuit against the bus driver and Shanghai Hong­mao Auto Rental, which owns the vehicle. By adding Ofo to the list of plaintiffs, the suit has become the first liti­gation in China against a bike-­sharing company over an accident.

Zhang Qianlin, the plain­tiff’s attorney, said on Mon­day the couple were demanding total compensa­tion of 8.78 million yuan (US$1.3 million) and that Ofo imme­diately install smart locks on all its bikes.

Older models operated by the company have mechanical locks, which require a four­-digit combi­nation, “but some users forget to scramble the com­bination when they finish their journey, meaning they can be ridden for free”, said Zhang, senior partner at DeBund Law Offices in Shanghai.

“Even if the lock is scram­bled, techniques to unlock the bikes are widely circulat­ed online and can be easily mastered by children,” he added.

Chinese law forbids minors under 12 from riding bikes and tricycles on roads. Zhang said the boy’s parents think the mechanical locks present a hidden danger because they make the bikes accessible to children.

The lawyer said despite media reports on juveniles racing shared bikes, result­ing in injury and even death in some cases, Ofo has failed to update its equipment to block underage users.

“We’re not only seeking civil compensation for the victim’s death, but also want it to be litigation in the public interest,” he said. “When shared bicycles become an important part of urban traf­fic, we want the bike opera­tors to clarify their responsibility to prevent sim­ilar tragedies.”

The fatal accident in March was the first in Shanghai involving a child under 12 on a shared bike. In June, a 13­-year-­old boy died in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, while riding downhill on an Ofo bike.

Ofo declined to comment when contacted on Monday. However, in February, the company pledged to replace its mechanical locks to pre­vent illegal use by children after Shanghai traffic and education authorities called for improved safety.

The case is scheduled to be heard at Shanghai Jing’an district court next month, according to court spokes­man Li Hongguang.

Public opinion was mixed online. Some said poor parental supervision was the main culprit in the accident. Others said shared bike ser­vices are closely linked to public safety, so the company must make sure their prod­ucts are safe and have no obvious flaws.

A man who allegedly stabbed five people before plowing into a group of nine others in a suburban district of Beijing on Sunday was found dead on Monday, local media reported.

The suspect, Wang Shanwen, committed suicide, Beijing News quoted an insider as saying on Monday afternoon just three hours after Beijing police put up a reward on social media offering 200,000 yuan (US$29,600) for key information.

The 38-year-old, who is originally from Heilongjiang Province, is said to have injured a group of five people with scissors in Miyun district before fleeing in a van, killing one person and injuring eight, at about 3 p.m. on Sunday, police said.

The injured were treated at a hospital.

Beijing police have arrested nine suspects in a cross-border internet browser hijacking case.

Malware called “Fireball” was developed by a company located in Beijing’s Haidian district to hijack browsers and profit from commissions on internet advertising by redirecting traffic, according to the Haidian sub-bureau of the municipal Public Security Bureau on Monday.

The company gained 80 million yuan (US$12 million) last year from the malware, which was bundled with legitimate software provided to users, the sub-bureau said.

The suspects are charged with the crime of sabotaging a computer system, it said.

The malware mainly targeted overseas users.

Zhao Leiluo, deputy head of the sub-bureau, said the company was set up in 2015 and registered in Haidian district. The malware targeted the overseas users in an attempt to avoid supervision in China, he said.

The crime should be punished regardless of borders, Zhao said, adding that the enforcement action demonstrates the determination of police to curtail the practice.

Wang Jingjun, deputy head of the internet security division of the sub-bureau, said the suspects confessed to the crime. The malware they developed was first detected by an overseas computer lab.

Beijing Huorong Network Technology Co reported the malware to the police and assisted them in obtaining key evidence after it was discovered by security company Check Point Software Technologies based in San Carlos, California, near Silicon Valley.

According to Check Point, more than 250 million computers worldwide have been infected by Fireball.

More than 140 suspects involved in internet hijacking have been busted since March. Around 130 cases of criminal cyberattacks were stopped in the same period, the authorities said.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s top health authority has opened an account on Zhihu to share healthcare information and policy details with a wide audience.