Dozens dead in Chinese train crash

[Mysticalmom]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/28/china.train/index.html

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Two passenger trains collided in eastern China's Shandong province Monday morning, killing at least 70 and injuring 420, according to China's official news agency.


Two trains collided in east China's Shandong province on Monday.

One train on its way from Beijing to Qingdao, a city in eastern China, derailed and crashed into a train which was traveling from the Shandong city of Yantai to Xuzhou in the eastern Jiangsu Province, according to a report by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

The wreck happened in the city of Zibo in Shandong Province at 4:43 a.m., the report said.

"Most passengers were still asleep, but some were standing in the aisle waiting to get off at the Zibo Railway Station," a passenger named Zhang was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

"I suddenly felt the train, like a roller coaster, toppled 90 degrees to one side and all the way to the other side. When it finally went off the tracks, many people fell on me and hot water poured out of the thermos flasks."

Local villagers joined police officers and medical workers in the rescue effort, breaking train windows with farm tools to pull out stranded passengers, Xinhua said. Survivors also joined in, using blankets from sleeper cars as stretchers to lift the seriously injured from the stricken carriages.

A 38-year-old woman called Yu told Xinhua she had escaped through a crack in the floor of the carriage with her 13-year-old daughter.

"We were still sleeping when the accident occurred," she said. "I suddenly woke up when I felt the train stopped with a jolt. In a minute or two it started again, but soon toppled."

Xinhua quoted government officials saying they suspect human error in the mishap and have ruled out terrorism as a cause.

[Mysticalmom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHINA_TRAIN_CRASH?SITE=WIJAN&SECTION=EUROPE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

ZIBO, China (AP) -- Some passengers were sleeping, but others were standing in the aisle waiting to get off when their high-speed train derailed, toppling into a ditch "like a roller coaster" and slamming into another train. At least 70 people died and more than 400 were injured.

China reacted swiftly to its worst train accident in a decade, sending top officials and soldiers to Zibo, the site of Monday's pre-dawn crash in eastern China's Shandong province, and sacking two railway officials.

Authorities were quoted as saying that human error was to blame. The official Xinhua News Agency also said one of the trains was traveling too fast.

The crash occurred when a train headed from Beijing to the coastal city of Qingdao - site of the sailing competition during the Olympics in August - derailed and hit a second passenger train just before dawn. Nine of the first train's carriages were knocked into a dirt ditch, Railway Ministry spokesman Wang Yongping said in a statement.

News photos showed rescuers pulling passengers from a rail car sitting on its side. Survivors bundled in white bed sheets from the sleeper cars stood or sat near the wreckage. The death toll could rise, with 70 people hospitalized in critical condition, according to Xinhua.

Security was tight on the outskirts of Zibo with roads to the crash site sealed by police and other nearby roads lined with paramilitary and police vehicles.

A total of 420 people were hurt, Xinhua said. No foreigners were among the dead. Injured survivors included four French nationals, a coach from China's national sailing team and a 3-year-old boy.

The injured were scattered at hospitals throughout the region, and patient wards were quiet by Monday night. Ten people were forced to sleep in the hallway of the packed orthopedic surgery floor at Zibo Central Hospital, including a chubby teenage boy whose mother had rushed in from Beijing.

The woman, who was resting on a narrow cot next to her son's hospital bed, said she did not know details about the accident.

"My son just fell asleep, please don't wake him," she whispered, stroking his hand and refusing to answer any questions.

Some 1,000 soldiers and armed police were sent to the crash site to seal it off and help with the rescue work, Xinhua said. Heavy cranes were used to move the wrecked rail cars, and workers aimed to reopen the line. Officials seemed to be in a rush to get the line functioning again ahead of the May Day holiday weekend, when Chinese flock to resort cities like Qingdao. (more at link)