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  • China train collision

    China train collision kills 70, hundreds injured

    At least 70 people have been killed and nearly 420 injured after a passenger train from Beijing careered off the rails and slammed into another train in eastern China.

    The train was travelling to Qingdao - the coastal city that will host the Olympic sailing competition in August - when it derailed, causing the other train to leave the tracks too.

    The accident happened in the city of Zibo in Shandong province.

    Witnesses say many passengers survived and were able to climb out of the wrecked train carriages.

    Human error

    Xinhua news agency is reporting that a preliminary investigation of the train collision shows that it was caused by human error.

    Two high ranking Chinese railway officials have been sacked.

    Our China correspondent, Stephen McDonell, says as well as losing their jobs, the director and party secretary of Jinan Railway Bureau are reportedly under investigation for their handling of the local railways.

    According to Chinese media reports, at the time of the collision, one of the two trains had derailed, sending 10 carriages into a ditch.
    China train collision kills 70, hundreds injured
    BEIJING: Two passenger trains collided in eastern China on Monday, killing at least 66 people and injuring hundreds as carriages derailed and toppled into a ditch, state media said.

    Some 400 people were taken to hospital, with 70 in a critical condition, Xinhua news agency said, suggesting the death toll could rise further.

    One train was en route from Beijing to the seaside resort of Qingdao when the accident happened in Zibo, Shandong province. The second train was from the resort of Yantai, in Shandong.

    Both were likely operating at full speed at the time of the accident, the worst in China since 1997, a cargo worker said.

    One passenger described escaping the wreckage with her 13-year-old daughter through a massive crack in the floor.

    "We were still sleeping when the accident occurred," Xinhua quoted the woman, surnamed Yu, as saying. "I suddenly woke up when I felt the train stopped with a jolt. In a minute or two it started off again, but soon toppled."

    The accident happened at a bend in the tracks and which caused the carriages to topple into a ditch, Xinhua reported, adding that blood-tainted sheets and broken thermos flasks littered the ground.

    Four of the injured were French nationals, all of whom were taken to hospital with bone fractures, the report said.

    Carriages overturned

    Pictures posted at a news portal showed carriages overturned and rescue workers milling around passengers wrapped in blankets.

    The local Qilu Evening news said the railway had begun a new timetable on Monday.

    State television said the rail line was built in 1897 and was due to be retired in favour of a high-speed link to be ready in time for the Summer Olympics, when Qingdao will host the sailing events.

    Railway Minister Liu Zhijun had arrived at the site and President Hu Jintao had dispatched Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang to the scene, Xinhua said.

    "The city government of Zibo has sent a 1,500-member strong team to help and console the victims' families," it added.

    The cargo worker said trains were already backing up near his station due to the collision.

    In January, a high-speed train ran through a group of maintenance workers in the dark in Shandong, killing 18.

    China has invested about $100 billion in its railways in the past few years and is expanding the system to accommodate what is the world's most dense passenger and freight network.

    As it stands, China's railways can barely keep pace with the country's breakneck economic growth or with the hundreds of millions of workers who are flocking from the countryside to booming cities.

    Monday's accident was the worst in China since 1997, when more than 100 people were killed in a train crash in the central province of Hunan.
    I was just surfing through the web and what intrigued me is, "the PRC Officials seemed more concerned about thawatting away ideads of any act of terror in this carnage, rather than probing deep into the human crisis iimediately."
    Equally lntriguing is, the PRC was rather too swift in sacking couple of railway officials even before they could provide some kind of explanation. A rather Indian style Coalition govt. move.;) Fishes, Dead Fishes, Foul Smelling Fishes, Fishy?
    sigpicAnd on the sixth day, God created the Field Artillery...

  • #2
    There is no doubt that somewhere someone has not pulled his weight.

    But then, in any normal society, there would be an enquiry to pin point blame.

    To swift an action is possibly to hide errors high up in the organisation, maybe a top Communist apparatchik, who must have made a killing through shady contracts for the mechanical and engineering aspects or whatever.

    And since the legal system is not ideal (as one gleans from a Communist Chinese poster's post), whoever has been sacked has no option but to shut up and suffer!

    Though I am open to correction!

    Just my reaction at the swift action taken against the two official.

    Or could it be that the Chinese have engineered a very efficient inquiry system that offers instant results?

    Terrorist action by Tibetans, Uighurs or even Inner Mongolians cannot be ruled out either given the volatile times!


    "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

    I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

    HAKUNA MATATA

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Ray View Post
      Or could it be that the Chinese have engineered a very efficient inquiry system that offers instant results?
      They sure must have invented somethig like that, Serendipity.
      As is evident from the Amicable and Timely restoration of Peace and Tranquility in Tibet and Uighur.
      sigpicAnd on the sixth day, God created the Field Artillery...

      Comment


      • #4
        Today I was shocked by the news...Very very sad...
        Cinderella was a Chinese.

        Comment


        • #5
          It is a tragedy, but given the nature of the accident, the casualties thankfully are less.

          The families must be grief stricken and the loss will be irreparable to them.

          Poor unfortunates.

          RIP.


          "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

          I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

          HAKUNA MATATA

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by praxisist
            When Liu Zhixiang (the railway minister Liu Zhijun's brother) was given a suspended death sentence in April for a long list of crimes that included hiring an assassin, bribery and embezzling some 40 million yuan (5 million U.S. dollars), it sparked indignant letters of protest from ordinary people and legal scholars alike.

            "We shouldn't let off some corrupt officials and punish others," argued legal scholar Yan Lieshan in the China Economic Times. "Corrupt officials' lives should be spared only if the capital punishment is negated for all economic crimes. The current practice of punishing some with death while sparing others harms the public's trust in justice."

            The railway minister,Liu Zhijun has married five times,yes in self-claimed commie China. His brother is a gangleader who was given a suspended death sentence in April 2006.

            But he cringes before HU JINTAO,so he is safe.


            Germany Calls on China to Talk With Dalai Lama | Germany ...
            Classical Comrade Personified.;)
            sigpicAnd on the sixth day, God created the Field Artillery...

            Comment


            • #7
              My condolences to the families of those involved in this tragedy and empathy with fellow railwaymen of the world.

              Comment


              • #8
                very very sad.
                72 dead, hundreds of injured, minister liu zhijun (a big fat rat) should resign, it is some thing that could be avoided.
                my belated condolences. prayers go to the families.
                rest in peace.

                Comment


                • #9
                  The railway minister is from a corrupt family?

                  No wonder.

                  Fat cat in Mao suit!!


                  "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

                  I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

                  HAKUNA MATATA

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Ray View Post
                    The railway minister is from a corrupt family?

                    No wonder.

                    Fat cat in Mao suit!!
                    Corrupted bureaucracy is more of "Chinese" character than that of "Communist". The giant and strongly interlocked bureaucracy has been a major social problem for thousands of years. Strong authority coupled with a week law, the government is run by the will of the officials. Sacking minors to protect self? No one would hesitate if he/she has the power.

                    The Central Railway Department is widely blamed for its bloated bureaucracy and corruption. It even managed to escape the Central Government's Department reform this year. Lets hope the accident can promote the reform of the whole railway system in China. If its just sacking a couple minors, I bet such tragedy would happen again soon.
                    天下兴亡,匹夫有责

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Everyan View Post
                      Corrupted bureaucracy is more of "Chinese" character than that of "Communist". The giant and strongly interlocked bureaucracy has been a major social problem for thousands of years. Strong authority coupled with a week law, the government is run by the will of the officials. Sacking minors to protect self? No one would hesitate if he/she has the power.

                      The Central Railway Department is widely blamed for its bloated bureaucracy and corruption. It even managed to escape the Central Government's Department reform this year. Lets hope the accident can promote the reform of the whole railway system in China. If its just sacking a couple minors, I bet such tragedy would happen again soon.
                      What an awful tragedy!. I still remember the bad old days in the 80's when this happened every year! This kind of thing should not happen in a modern railway system. I hope that there is a thorough investigation, some soul searching and investment into under modernized segments of railway in China.

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