Rescue workers yesterday dug through the tangled wreckage of two trains that crashed in eastern China, killing at least 35 and injuring 210 in China’s deadliest train disaster since 2008.
A high-speed train on Saturday smashed into a stalled train near the city of Wenzhou, some 1384 kilometres south of Beijing, raising new questions about the safety of the fast-growing rail network.
The accident occurred on a bridge near Wenzhou in Zhejiang province after the first train lost power due to a lightning strike and a bullet train following behind crashed into it, state television said.
Two foreigners also died in the accident, state news agency Xinhua said yesterday, citing the provincial emergency office.
China News Service, a semi-official news agency, said one of them was a female in her 20s. The government of Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang, was not available for comment.
Rescuers said they were still looking for survivors, trying to reach the broken carriages lying under the bridge.
“The task for us now is to clear the debris and also to check for survivors in those areas that we have not gone to,” said 35-year-old rescue worker Wang Jun.
