REUTERS - At least 32 people died when a high-speed train smashed into a stalled train in front of it in China’s eastern Zhejiang province on Saturday, state media said, raising new questions about the safety of the fast-growing rail network.
The accident occurred on a bridge near the city of Wenzhou after the first train lost power—possibly after being hit by lightning—and a following bullet train crashed into it, the official Xinhua news agency said.
State television showed one or possibly two carriages on the ground under the bridge, with another hanging above it. Several other carriages derailed. More than 100 people have been taken to hospital, Xinhua said.
One train was heading from Beijing to the coastal city of Fuzhou, the other was running from Zhejiang provincial capital Hangzhou, also to Fuzhou.
“The train suddenly shook violently, casting luggage all around,” Xinhua quoted survivor Liu Hongtao as saying.
“Passengers cried for help but no crew responded.”
State television broadcast appeals for people not involved in the rescue effort to stay away, saying they were hampering efforts to get survivors out of the wrecked carriages and to hospital.
The Railway Ministry has ordered emergency safety checks on the country’s trains, Xinhua added.
Users on China’s popular Twitter-like microblogging service Weibo spread appeals for people to donate blood and help look for lost relatives and friends.
“I’m looking for Lu Haitian who was in carriage 3. Please send along any clues you have!” wrote “Noodle Kung-fu”.
Others, though, criticised the safety record of China’s much-hyped high-speed trains.
The flagship Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line has been plagued by power outages, leaving passengers stranded on stuffy trains for hours at least three times since opening a month ago.
“China’s high-speed trains are rubbish! They have frequent accidents and they’ve only been in service a few years,” wrote “I believe in snow.”
“We should learn from Japan. They’ve been running them for years with no problems.”
The government has spent billions of dollars improving the railway network of the world’s most populous country and has said it plans to spend $120 billion a year for several years on railway construction.
The Beijing-Shanghai link is the latest and most feted segment of a network the government hopes will stretch over 45,000 km (28,000 miles) by the end of 2015.
But the vast network has been hit by a series of scandals in addition to the safety incidents of the past few months. Three railway officials have been investigated for corruption so far this year, according to local media reports.
In February, Liu Zhijun was sacked as railways minister for “serious disciplinary violations”. He had led the rail sector’s investment drive over the past decade. [ID:nTOE71O053]
China’s last major train disaster was in 2008, when an express train travelling from Beijing to the eastern coastal city of Qingdao derailed and collided with another train, killing 72 and injuring 416 people.
Map showing location of Wenzhou


Two high-speed bullet trains crashed close to  in the  province of eastern China on Saturday. At least 43 passengers were found dead and over 200 are injured, according to the China state-run news agency , with 12 in critical condition.

The collision occurred on a bridge after one train was struck by lightning, forcing it to stop, and was subsequently struck by a second train around 2030 local time (1230 UTC). The trains involved were the D3115 service from  to , the train that was stopped at the time of the collision, and the D301 service from Beijing to Fuzhou.

As a result of the collision, two cars from the first train fell off the bridge, as well as four cars from the second train. One of the cars landed on its side, and another ended up lying vertically against the bridge. According to , a state-run broadcaster, upwards of 1,400 people were on the two trains: more than 900 on the stopped train and more than 500 on the second one.

One passenger, Liu Hongtao, is reported as saying: "The train suddenly shook violently, casting luggage all around. Passengers cried for help but no crew responded."

The government have said they will be launching an "urgent overhaul" of rail safety following the crash, the first derailment since the introduction of 155 miles per hour high-speed rail service in China four years ago, and three railway officials were also fired by the ministry of railways, which said the officials may be investigated.

On Sunday, rescuers found a small child unconscious in the wreckage, about 21 hours after the crash, who was sent to a hospital. According to a rescue worker, the child, four years old, "could still move his hands" when he was located.



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