Photo taken on April 28, 2008, shows the site of the trains colliding accident, in east China's Shandong Province. Passenger train T195 en route from Beijing to Qingdao city in eastern China derailed and hit train 5034 early on Monday, causing "heavy casualties", witnesses and a government spokesman confirmed.(Xinhua Photo)
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JINAN, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A high-speed passenger train jumped the track in the eastern province of Shandong early on Monday, striking another train and leaving 70 dead and 416 injured, railway authorities confirmed.
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have urged all-out efforts in the train wreck. Preliminary investigations suggested the accident was caused by human error. Authorities have ruled out the possibility of a terror attack.
The casualties were from both trains, one of which was en route from Beijing to Qingdao, a famous summer resort in Shandong and venue of the Olympic sailing competition. The other was traveling from Yantai, Shandong to Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province.
The high-speed train from Beijing, coded T195, derailed in the city of Zibo at about 4:40 a.m. and smashed into train 5034. The second train also left the tracks. At least 12 cars from both trains derailed.
No foreign citizens were killed in the accident, which occurred just before the May Day national holiday passenger rush. However, four French nationals were hospitalized with bone fractures. They were identified as 54-year-old Pascal Boisson, his 14-year-old son Pierre Emmanuel Boisson, 22-year-old daughter Joanne Boisson, and his girlfriend Robin Naurence, 42.
The youngest patient was a 3-and-a-half-year-old boy, Liu Jinhang, from Qingdao.
Rescuers work at the site of the trains colliding accident, in east China's Shandong Province, on April 28, 2008. Passenger train T195 en route from Beijing to Qingdao city in eastern China derailed and hit train 5034 early on Monday, causing "heavy casualties", witnesses and a government spokesman confirmed.(Xinhua Photo)
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Location of Shandong within China.
Two trains collided in Shandong, China 4:41am local time on Monday killing at least 71 people and injuring over 400, including four French citizens. It is still not known exactly how many people were on either of the trains.

The collision occurred in Zibo when one of the trains traveling from Beijing to Qingdao jumped tracks and collided head on with a train traveling in the opposite direction from Yantai to Xuzhou. Both of the trains are reported to have been traveling at their maximum speeds when they collided.

"It toppled 90 degrees to one side and then 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 their thermos flasks," said Zhang, a passenger, to Xinhua.
 
The cause of the accident is still under investigation, but reports say that the tracks were broken under the train traveling from Beijing. The tracks are said to have been built in 1897.

Jinan Railway Bureau officials Chen Gong and  Chai Tiemin  have been fired after the accident.  The two top officials who were the former director and former Communist Party chief, respectively, will face an investigation by the Ministry of Railways. 

Four Frenchmen were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Authorities named them as Pascal Boisson, 54, his son Pierre Emmanuel Boisson, 14, his daughter Joanne Boisson, 22, and his girlfriend Robin Naurence, 42. No foreigners were killed in the accident, officials said.