Bad News from China [天灾人祸]

Bad News from China

66 dead, 400 injured in train collision

2008-04-28

JINAN -- The death toll from two passenger trains colliding in east China on Monday rose to 66, the China Central said.

Some 60 people were killed and 400 were taken to hospital, with 70 in a critical condition, Xinhua news agency said earlier, quoting the Jinan Railway Bureau based in Shandong.

The victims were from two passengers trains, one of which was en route from Beijing to Qingdao, a famous summer resort in Shandong and venue of the Olympic sailing competition, and the other, from Shandong's Yantai to Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu Province.

The train from Beijing, coded T195, derailed in the city of Zibo in Shandong Province at 4:43 am About 10 carriages toppled into a ditch.

The derailed train hit train 5034 and caused the latter to veer off its tracks, too.

Witnesses said many passengers had climbed out the wrecked train cars shortly after the accident. Some had wrapped up themselves in bed sheets from the sleeper cars in the early morning chill.

The accident occurred in Hejiacun village, sandwiched between Zhoucun district and Wangcun railway station in the suburbs of Zibo, and about 70 kilometers east of the provincial capital Jinan.

Dozens of injured passengers were being treated at the Zhoucun People's Hospital. "Most are slight cases and more people are being sent in every hour," a hospital worker said. "Some of our medical workers have gone out for rescue work, too."

The hospital, about 30 minutes' drive from the site of the accident, is one of several hospitals involved in the rescue work.

Rescue teams, consisting medical workers and policemen, have been sent in from the neighboring cities of Jinan and Weifang, said a spokesman with the Shandong provincial government.

The accident has disrupted two-way traffic on the Jinan-Qingdao Railway, a pivotal provincial rail link.

This is the second major railway accidents taking place in Shandong this year.

In January, a high-speed train from Beijing to Qingdao ran down a group of railway workers in Shandong Province, leaving 18 dead and nine others injured.

The workers were relocating the tracks when the train ran into the work site in Anqiu City of Shandong.


http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-04/28/content_6648757.htm












May they rest in peace.

70 killed, 416 injured in train collision in Shandong
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-28 19:00


JINAN -- 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.

Preliminary investigations suggested the accident was caused by human error. Authorities have ruled out the possibility of terrorism.

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.

Joanne Boisson, who sustained minor back injuries, politely declined Xinhua's request for an interview. "I'm not feeling well. I'm on my way to see my younger brother at a separate hospital," she said over the phone.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang, who was overseeing rescue work at the site, visited Zibo Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital where Joanne and her father were being treated on Monday afternoon.

The hospital had received 21 injured passengers so far and more were expected, said Zhang Jun, head of the orthopedics department.

The youngest patient was a 3-and-a-half-year-old boy, Liu Jinhang, from Qingdao


Pre-dawn nightmare

The accident occurred in Hejiacun village, about 500 meters east of the Wangcun Railway Station in Zhoucun District in the suburbs of Zibo, about 70 kilometers east of the provincial capital, Jinan.

One passenger, surnamed Zhang, said the train from Beijing was like a "roller coaster".

"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.

When Zhang escaped from the wrecked train, she saw many villagers had voluntarily joined the rescue work, some smashing train windows with farm tools to free trapped passengers. Others brought food and water from home.

"I saw a girl trying to help her boyfriend out of the train -- only to find he was dead," Zhang said.

Zhang and other survivors also joined the rescue work, using blankets and sheets from the sleeper cars as stretchers to carry out the seriously injured.

"For a time, so many people were trying to make phone calls that the mobile communications network was congested and no one could get through," said a fourth-year college student surnamed Xu, who was traveling from Beijing to Qingdao to visit her boyfriend. She was not injured in the accident.

Wang Xiaoyu, 23, from the northeastern Heilongjiang Province and his girlfriend were also among the lucky passengers on board T195. They were on the seventh carriage, far enough from the 10th to 18th carriages that derailed.

"We were still asleep but felt the train jump twice. Then the whole carriage had a power failure," said Wang. "Within 20 minutes, a stewardess came and told us to join the rescue work."

Wang and several other young men walked about 500 m to the derailed cars. "I pulled seven or eight people out of the wrecked train -- some of them were already dead."

Wang and more than 30 other survivors took a bus to Qingdao at 4:30 pm.

Xu Dongtan, a physician with Zibo Central Hospital, said he arrived at the site at 6 a.m. "I examined at least 110 patients to decide which hospital they were to go to. Most people suffered bruises and fractures," he said.

Patients were sent to 19 hospitals in or near Zibo. The city government has sent a 1,500-member team to help and console victims' families. Nine hotels and 34 rescue centers have been reserved for the victims' families.

Human error to blame

A preliminary investigation by railway and work safety authorities suggested the accident, the worst since 1997, was caused by human error.

Authorities have ruled out the possibility of terrorism.

Although investigations are continuing, some investigators said that T195 was traveling at 131 kilometers per hour before the accident, far in excess of the speed limit of 80 km/hr between Zhoucun and Wangcun.

Immediately after the accident, two top officials of the Jinan Railway Bureau were sacked. The bureau's former director Chen Gong and former Communist Party chief Chai Tiemin face an investigation by the Ministry of Railways.

The ministry has appointed Geng Zhixiu, deputy engineer-in-chief of the ministry as the new director, and Xu Chang'an, deputy chair of the ministry's trade union, as the new Party chief.

A ministry spokesman has offered condolences to the victims.

"We grieve over the loss of life and sincerely hope those who were injured in the accident will recover soon," said Wang Yongping.

The accident caught the attention of top Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun and head of the State Administration of Work Safety Wang Jun are at the site to oversee the rescue work.


Traffic disruptions

The crash disrupted two-way traffic on the century-old Jinan-Qingdao Railway, a 384-km trunk line between the two big cities in Shandong.

The railway was originally built by the Germans in Qingdao in 1901 and opened to traffic in 1904.

Thousands of passengers were stranded at stations in Shandong on Monday and authorities arranged buses to divert the crowds.

Cranes and forklifts were sent in at midday to remove the wrecked cars and damaged cross-ties from the rails. By 5 p.m., more than 1,000 workers were still repairing the line. Electricians installed more lighting for night repair work.

The Ministry of Railways said it expected to restore service at about 8 a.m. on Tuesday.

Monday's crash was the second major rail accident in Shandong this year.

In January, a high-speed train from Beijing to Qingdao ran down a group of railway workers, leaving 18 dead and nine others injured. The workers were relocating the tracks when the train struck the work site in Anqiu.

China had raised train speeds six times as of April 2007, with railways allowing a speed of more than 200 km per hour totaling 6,227 km. By 2020, the length of such high-speed railways is forecast to reach 18,000 km and high-speed services will cover 50,000 km, serving 90 percent of China's population.

Work has started on several new high-speed rail lines, including the Beijing-Tianjin railway and the Beijing-Shanghai railway. The latter, with a designed speed of 350 km/hr, broke ground in mid-April.


http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-04/28/content_6649084_4.htm

China sacks railway officials shortly after deadly train collision


www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-28

JINAN, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Two high-ranking railway officials were sacked on Monday following a deadly train collision which has claimed 66 lives and injured hundreds in east China's Shandong province.

Chen Gong, former director, and Chai Tiemin, former Party secretary of of the Jinan Railway Bureau were sacked and subject to investigation by the Ministry of Railways, Xinhua learnt from the rescue headquarters.

The ministry has appointed Geng Zhixiu, deputy engineer-in-chief of the ministry as the new director, and Xu Chang'an, deputy chair of the ministry's trade union as the new Party chief.


http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/28/content_8067424.htm

Survivors recount pre-dawn nightmare
By Wang Xu (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-29 06:34


ZIBO, Shandong: For judoka Zhang Lin, death was just inches away - literally - when the train crash occurred early yesterday morning.

Returning to Qingdao after a training camp in Beijing, she was fast asleep when a violent jolt woke her up.

She immediately felt something was wrong, and instinctively cradled her head with both arms. A second later, she felt a force so strong that she felt herself swung from her sleeper berth and thrown out of the train window.

Luckily, the window glass had already been broken earlier when a fellow passenger was thrown against it.

Otherwise the collision could have killed her instantly, she told China Daily as she lay in a bed at No 148 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Zibo, Shandong province.

As she hit the ground, she heard a roaring sound and saw the carriage topple in front of her - only inches away from her feet. "One more roll by the carriage could have crushed me," said Zhang, who suffered bone fractures and bruises.

Ding Qi, an 18-year-old student from Qingdao, also recalled the tremendous force that toppled the train.

"The train first swung to the left, jolting me out of the sleeper and sending the tea cup on the table flying, and then it swung to the right, more forcefully."

The force unfastened the sleeper berth above her, which dropped on her leg.

"From that moment till now, I dare not close my eyes," she told China Daily last night.

She said as soon as she shuts her eyes, the chaotic scenes, the screaming, and the blood resurface in her mind.

"It was terrible."

Ding, who was dragged out of the toppled carriage by rescuers, escaped with minor injuries.

Another passenger surnamed Zhang told Xinhua that local villagers used farm tools to smash train windows and pull out trapped passengers.

Many survivors also joined the rescue effort, using blankets and bedsheets as stretchers to carry the wounded.

"I saw a girl who was trying to help her boyfriend out of the train, but he was dead," Zhang said.

Many passengers climbed out of the wrecked train cars shortly after the accident, some wrapping themselves in bedsheets from the sleeper cars in the early morning chill.

Bloodstained sheets and broken thermos flasks could be seen on the ground beside the twisted train cars, Xinhua reported.

A 38-year-old woman told Xinhua that she and daughter, 13, escaped unhurt by scrambling through a huge crack in the floor of their carriage.

The woman, who gave only her family name of Yu, said she was traveling with her daughter from Yantai to Jinan.


http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-04/29/content_6649747.htm

Speeding blamed for deadly train collision
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-29 11:55


ZHOUCUN, Shandong -- Overspeeding was responsible for Monday's deadly train collision in east China that killed 70 and injured 416 others, the investigation panel set up by the State Council said Tuesday.

A high-speed train from Beijing to Qingdao, coded T195, veered off the rails in the city of Zibo at about 4:40 a.m. on Monday. The derailed coaches smashed into another train, coded 5034, which was coming in the opposite direction along an adjacent line.

Investigators had said Monday that T195 was traveling at 131 kilometers per hour before the accident, far over the section's speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour.

Two top officials of the Jinan Railway Bureau, bureau director Chen Gong and Communist Party chief Chai Tiemin, were sacked just hours after the accident. They face investigations by the Ministry of Railways.

So far, the identities of 26 people killed in the fatal train collision on Monday morning in east China's Shandong Province which left 70 dead and 416 injured have been confirmed.
The victims, 16 male and 10 female whose names can be found on the portal website of Sina.com, are mostly locals or from north and northeast China, including at least two Beijing residents.

Among the victims, two are college students studying in Beijing -- 25-year-old Wang Tingting at the University of International Business and Economics and 23-year-old Huang Hao at the Renmin University of China. The 47-year-old Zheng Changling was identified as the policeman on duty on the train and 42-year-old Zhao Jingwei a reporter with the local Zibo Television Station.

Eight wounded passengers are also listed on the website, with their injuries specified.
Sources at a meeting of the State Council investigation panel said the panel, headed by Wang Jun, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, was set up Tuesday morning in Zibo City, Shandong.

"All the injured have been hospitalized and the dead have been transferred to local funeral homes," said Wang at the meeting.

"The accident site has been cleaned up and the stranded passengers evacuated," he added.


http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-04/29/content_6651957.htm

May the 71 souls rest in peace.

Team set up to rescue factory kids

Team set up to rescue factory kids
By Chen Hong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-30 06:48


SHENZHEN: A citywide drive has been launched to rescue children working in Dongguan, a manufacturing base in Guangdong province.

The action follows a newspaper report on Monday that said hundreds of underage workers were being employed by factories.

More than 1,000 children, aged between 9 and 16 from poor families in Liangshan, Sichuan province, have been lured to Dongguan, Shenzhen and Huizhou in the Pearl River Delta area, to work as cheap labor in factories, Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

In the town of Shipai, Dongguan, which the report identified as a major center for cheap labor, a special team led by the town's chief has been set up to crack down on the practice.

"Our labor enforcement and trade union will investigate all companies in the town, the labor market and agencies," Wang Yongquan, a spokesman, said.

So far, police have rescued more than 100 youngsters from rented houses in the town and arrested several people, Wang said.

Liu Zhigeng, Party secretary of Dongguan, has instructed the police and labor departments to rescue all youngsters as soon as possible and punish the people responsible.

An underground organization has been luring the youngsters from Liangshan to Dongguan and forcing them to work in the factories directly or through employment agencies, the newspaper reported.

People in the organization, who have established close contacts with companies, earn 200 to 300 yuan ($29-$43) for each worker. While leaders of the organization, who are responsible for encouraging the youngsters to leave their hometowns, can earn about 100,000 yuan each within three months, the report said.

The children earn about 2.5 yuan to 3.8 yuan an hour and are forced to work long hours, it said.

He Zhujian, chief of the labor enforcement team in Dongguan, said: "Most of the employers are medium-to-small companies. Most small firms are not registered with the labor departments and try to cut operational costs."

Hou Yuangao, a professor with the Central University for Nationalities, said it is poverty that drives families to send their children to work.

"In Liangshan, where farming alone cannot support a family, children as young as 8 or 9 are sent out to work. Many parents are happy their children are earning several hundred yuan a month," he said.

One mother burst into tears when she learned her son had been sent to work thousands of kilometers away, but when she heard he was provided with a rice meal every two or three days, her tears dried up, the newspaper reported.


http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-04/30/content_6653002.htm