43 killed in high-speed train crash
AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPE LOPEZ
The wreckage of two high-speed trains in the town of Shuangyu, on the outskirts of Wenzhou in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. China has ordered an "urgent" overhaul of rail safety, state media said on July 24, after the train crash killed 35 people and injured over 200 in the worst accident to ever hit the country's high-speed rail network.
SHUANGYU, China, Sunday
China has ordered an “urgent” overhaul of rail safety, state media said on Sunday, after 43 people were killed in the worst accident ever to hit the country’s high-speed train network.
The collision of two trains in eastern China is likely to raise fresh questions over the rapid roll-out of the country’s high-speed lines, the world’s biggest at more than 8,000 kilometres.
The government moved swiftly to ease public concern, sacking three senior officials at the Shanghai railway bureau and launching an “urgent overhaul” of national rail safety, official news agency Xinhua said.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese depend on the country’s railways and any problems generate tremendous public interest in a country where, despite a three-decade economic boom, air travel remains beyond the means of most people.
A new $33 billion high-speed link between Beijing and Shanghai opened to passengers amid much fanfare on June 30 — a year ahead of schedule — but has suffered power cuts and delays, prompting criticism on blogs and in the media.
An initial investigation into Saturday’s crash in Shuangyu, on the outskirts of the eastern city of Wenzhou, blamed “equipment failure caused by lightning strike”, the railway ministry said in a statement.
Xinhua said an express that lost power after being struck by lightning was hit by a second train, sending four carriages plunging from a viaduct and derailing another two. Two foreigners were among the dead, it reported.
Lin Hui, 49, was walking to his seat on the second train when the force of the collision threw him to the floor.
“I got up and I realised that part of the carriage that I had been walking around had been completely squashed,” Mr Lin told AFP from his hospital bed in Wenzhou.
“I remember seeing an older lady with a little kid — they must be dead,” he said.
One passenger said the crash “felt like an earthquake” while another said he was trapped in a carriage with more than 60 other passengers for over an hour after the accident, which also injured 211 people.
(AFP)
