Train collision leaves 66 dead
Two passenger trains collided in the early morning in eastern China. According to the latest report from state media, 66 people were killed while more than 400 were injured.
One train was bound from Beijing to Qingdao, a famous summer resort in Shandong province while the other was heading from Shandong’s Yantai to Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu province.
According to Xinhua, the Beijing train derailed in the city of Zibo in Shandong province at 4:43 am local time. About 10 carriages fell into a ditch. The Beijing train collided with the other train and caused to veer off its tracks.
The city government has sent a 1,500-member rescue team. Nine hotels and 34 rescue centers have been reserved for the victims’ families.
Four French nationals were reportedly among those injured, the provincial foreign affairs office said. They were hospitalized with bone fractures.
Rescue teams have also been sent from the neighboring cities of Jinan and Weifang.
Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang has arrived at the site to oversee the rescue work, Xinhua said.
This was the second major railway accident in Shandong this year.
In January, a high-speed train from Beijing to Qingdao which accidentally went into a worksite, killed 18 workers and injured nine others. The workers were relocating the tracks when the train ran them down.
