YINCHUAN - The Higher People's Court of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Wednesday rejected the appeal of an arsonist who was sentenced to death by Yinchuan Municipal Intermediate People's Court on July 3.

The court upheld the arson conviction and death sentence of Ma Yongping.

Ma set a bus on fire using a bottle of gasoline on January 5 in Helan County, motivated by anger over a personal dispute.

The fire, which quickly burned the bus into an empty shell, killed 18 people and left 32 injured.