One dead in high-speed train crash in southwest China
- Train driver killed and at least eight passengers and staff injured after vehicle hits soil on tracks
- Two cars comes off the rails as train pulls into station
At least one person died and eight others were injured when a high-speed train went off the rails at a railway station in southwestern China on Saturday morning, state media reported.
The train was exiting a tunnel when it hit soil on the tracks swept down from a hillside near Rongjiang county railway station in Guizhou province at about 10.30am, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Two carriages left the tracks, the report said.
Operator China Railway said the train ran for more than 900 metres (2,950 feet) after the driver discovered an “abnormality” on the track and engaged the emergency brakes within five seconds. Walls along the line had prevented the vehicle from leaving the rails, it said.
The driver of the vehicle, identified as Yang Yong, was killed and both passengers and staff were among the injured.
In photos posted online by the Guizhou fire department, the front of a badly damaged carriage had mounted the station platform and was roughly perpendicular to the tracks. Police and firefighters freed passengers trapped inside the wreckage.
In all, more than 140 people were on the train heading from the city of Guiyang in Guizhou to Guangzhou in the southern province of Guangdong.
The Ministry of Emergency Management said at least 52 rescuers had been sent to the scene.
It said workers started clearing mud from the tracks near the tunnel in the afternoon, and an excavator was used to clear soil piled up next to the line.
The county weather bureau had issued heavy rain warnings throughout Saturday morning. At around 1.30am, the bureau forecast that at least 100mm (3.9 inches) of rain would fall in the county in the next few hours. An hour later, it warned of 200mm of rain by around 8am.
