High-Speed Train Collision Kills At Least 32 in China

By Chen Jinghui & Gao Zitan
July 23, 2011

Fourth accident on rail system since July 10.

A fatal train crash on China’s high-speed rail system took place on the night of July 23. On the line from Hangzhou to Fuzhou two trains collided on a bridge. So far 32 fatalities have been reported and more than 191 are said to be injured.

China National Radio reported that the accident was caused by the train D3115, from Hangzhou to Fuzhou, losing power after being hit by lightening, causing it to come to a stop on a bridge in southeast China’s Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province.

Then train D301, from Beijing to Fuzhou, plowed into D3115 from behind.

D3115 was almost fully loaded with about 1,300-1,400 passengers, with about 100 passengers per car. On impact, two passenger cars from D3115 derailed, along with four passenger cars from D301. Two of the derailed cars plunged off the bridge. The driver of D301 was among the dead, his body found at the scene.

Internet users posted messages from the scene of the crash. One blogger wrote, “Help! D301 derailed just outside of Wenzhou South Railway Station! Now the carriage is filled with the sound of kids crying, but not a single crew member has come out to help! Please come help us!”

One blogger wrote that the lights in D301 went out immediately after it violently collided with D3115, and cars one to three fell off the bridge. Many blood-soaked, injured passengers broke the windows to get out of the cars, the blogger said.

One passenger, who was in carriage five of the D301 train, wrote that it was completely dark in his car after the collision and the passengers were not able to break the windows, so they had to escape from an opening in the front of the car.

Over one hundred ambulances have rushed to the scene to tend to the victims, and local hospitals are said to be in dire need of more blood.

Mr. Zhang was near the scene. He said he heard a thundering crash and saw two bullet trains collide with each other. He and many local residents immediately rushed to the scene to help with rescue work.

A blogger described the scene after the collision: “There are so many fire trucks. A friend of mine saw a slow-moving train hit by a fast-moving train from behind. He saw smoke coming out of the trains. Those fire trucks must be heading that way.”

Many netizens posted messages on microblogs, looking for their loved ones.

Mr. Hu, a passenger on one of the trains, told The Epoch Times “There are still a lot of people inside the train waiting to be rescued.”

A patient in Wenzhou Kangning Hospital told The Epoch Times: “I heard that four passengers were seen being sent to the hospital morgue. My friends told me that all the hospitals in Wenzhou are treating injuries from this collision.”

One railroad engineer wrote in a blog post that D3115 stopped at a bridge after being hit by lightening. The rail line’s network system was damaged and failed to detect a train parked on the bridge, which caused the second train to collide with the train before it.

A Wenzhou City resident, Mr. Chen, raised doubts about the explanation given for the crash. “The weather was not good, but those experts should have taken this into consideration. I’m not convinced by this explanation.”

In an interview with Beijing News in June, Chang Zhenchen, a high-speed rail engineer and official with the high-speed rail system claimed that the rail system met European standards. He guaranteed that a collision from behind will not happen.

The accident in Wenzhou City was the fourth accident on China’s high-speed rail system since July 10.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/high-speed-train-collision-kills-at-least-32-in-china-59455.html.