High-speed train crash kills 33 in China
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Two high-speed trains crashed in eastern China’s Zhejiang province on Saturday, killing at least 33 people and injuring 191 others. Xinhua reported that one of the bullet trains was travelling from Hangzhou to the southeastern city of Fuzhou, Fujian province, when it was hit by another high-speed service in the city of Wenzhou at around 8.30pm, before derailing and falling off its 10-metre high overhead track. The second train was travelling from Beijing to Fuzhou. Initial investigations suggest that the Beijing-Fuzhou high-speed train was hit by lightning immediately before the crash, which caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle. It then slammed into the back to the Hangzhou-Fuzhou service, causing the latter train to derail and fall off the elevated line. Photos of the incident show the wreckage of several crumpled carriages lying on the ground, and one standing vertically, propped up by the viaduct.
According to one passenger the Hangzhou-Fuzhou train had been delayed at a station in Wenzhou immediately before the crash.
“At around 8pm at the Yongjia station, the train was supposed to stop for one minute, but actually stayed for 25 minutes,” the woman named Zhou told Xinhua. “After it moved, we heard a ‘bang’ and it felt like an earthquake,” she added.
Another high-speed train travelling from southeastern city of Xiamen to Hangzhou was also reported to have been struck by lightning at around the same time on Saturday, but it managed to stop without incident. Other passengers on the crashed trains reported seeing lightning in the area before the incident.
The crash follows a series of power failures experienced on China’s high-speed rail network. The Beijing-Shanghai line broke down three times in its first two weeks of operations.
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