In an armed robbery in South Africa on Monday a Chinese businessman was murdered, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Xu Ruichong, 43, is the sixth Chinese national to have been murdered in South Africa this year. He and his wife were attacked when they stopped their car at a crossing in the city of Johannesburg.

He was shot dead as he and his wife tried to flee from the robbers, according to Zhang Hongjie, vice-chairman of the chamber of commerce of Nantong town fellows of Jiangsu Province in South Africa.

Nearly 30 townsfolk from Jiangsu were quickly on the scene to offer assistance in the aftermath of the incident. Officials from the Chinese Embassy in South Africa also visited the scene and have  expressed their condolences to Xu’s relatives.

Xu went to Johannesburg in 1998 from east China's Zhejiang Province to trade in wholesale curtains and bedclothes.

Earlier this month, Liu, a Chinese woman born in South Africa, was shot dead during a robbery at her home in Johannesburg. And last Sunday, 22-year-old Chen Meihua from east China's Fujian Province, was shot in the head by armed robbers in Johannesburg. She remains in a critical condition in hospital.

In February three Chinese were robbed and killed in two days in South Africa.

(China Daily May 24, 2006)