Beijing (CNN) A 40-year-old man lost control of his vehicle and plowed into pedestrians on a busy Shanghai street Friday morning, after the van he was driving caught fire, authorities said.

Eighteen people were injured, including the driver surnamed Chen, when the van mounted the sidewalk at an intersection in downtown Shanghai around 9 a.m., Shanghai police said in a statement.

The driver is currently in a coma and was the only person seriously hurt in the incident, the Shanghai city government press office said. Nine have already left the hospital, while the others were described as "lightly injured."

Chen, a worker at a Shanghai metal product company, was smoking and driving while carrying hazardous material "illegally," police said. Authorities also said that Chen had been illegally delivering liquid gas in recent years.

The People's Daily, a state-controlled newspaper, reported that the van was carrying a number of gas tanks at the time of the accident.

Read More