29 April 2008

Death toll rises in China train crash

JINAN, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The death toll has climbed to 70 with 416 injured in MondayÃ¢â¬â¢s train collision in east China's Shandong Province, railway authorities confirmed.

The casualties 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.

Ministry of Railways said 51 of the injured passengers were in critical condition.

Among the injured passengers were four French nationals. No foreign nationals were among the dead, said Chinese officials.

The high-speed, overnight train from Beijing derailed in the city of Zibo in Shandong Province at around 4:40 am. About 10 carriages toppled into a ditch.

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

The Xinhua news agency said the accident was caused by human error, according to preliminary investigation on Monday.

This is the second major railway 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.