China's largest car-hailing company Didi Chuxing has come under harsh criticism after a female passenger in Zhejiang Province was raped and killed allegedly by a driver registered with its Hitch service, a second such killing in three months.

Police said that a 20-year-old woman, surnamed Zhao, got into the Didi car in Yueqing city, Zhejiang Province to travel to nearby Yongjia county on Friday afternoon. One hour later she sent text messages to her friends asking for help before losing contact. On Saturday morning, a 27-year-old Didi driver surnamed Zhong was arrested, and later confessed to the rape and murder of Zhao, whose body was found hours later by the side of the road. As details on the case were further disclosed, public opinion was seething with indignation towards Didi's negligence of its responsibility.

A day before Zhao was killed, another female passenger had filed a complaint against the same driver, claiming that he repeatedly requested that she sit in the front seat, drove to a remote area, and followed her after she got out of the car. However, Didi's customer service didn't follow up with an investigation within two hours, as the firm promises. An Internet user asked, "How can a driver who has been reported still go on taking passengers?" A media report said the tragedy could have been prevented if Didi hadn't turned a blind eye to the early warning.

Zhao's family and friends said that they tried to obtain the driver's contact information and license plate number through Didi's customer service platform, but were asked to wait for an hour and were later refused based on the company's privacy policy for drivers. They later reported the incident to the police, who didn't get the information from Didi until several hours later. A CNR report said Didi's customer service was sluggish and its response severely delayed the police response time. The report cited a lawyer as saying Didi might bear both civil and executive liability for not timely replying to a customers' appeal.

Didi said the driver had no prior criminal record and had logged in with his authentic ID and had been confirmed by facial recognition on the day but was using a fake license plate when committing the crime. Many people are calling to question Didi's background checks which may have loopholes and criticizing the company for not solving the issue of fabricating license plates.

The murder happened just three months after another high-profile murder case in May, when a 21-year-old flight attendant in Henan province was raped and killed by a Didi driver. Following the case, Didi overhauled its security measures, temporarily suspending its Hitch service at night. Many people claim that Didi didn't learn from the incident, doubting the effectiveness of its security measures.

Didi apologized in a statement on Saturday afternoon, saying, "We are deeply sorry. We fell short of your expectations, and we have the inescapable responsibility." The company also said it "blames itself" for failing to follow and deal with the passenger's complaint about the suspect before Zhao was killed. Didi promised to pay triple the standard amount of compensation for victims if any criminal cases involving its platform happen in the future.

Authorities in Zhejiang province on Saturday ordered Didi to suspend its car-pooling service there while the company addressed safety issues. On Sunday, Didi announced that the company would suspend its car-pooling service across the entire country and reappraise its business mode, staring from August 27. Meanwhile, two senior executives have been removed from their posts.

CGTN contributed to the story.