China train crash kills 35
Rescue workers continue to dug through the tangled wreckage of two trains that crashed in eastern China, killing at least 35 and injuring 210.
A high-speed train yesterday smashed into a stalled train near the city of Wenzhou, south of Beijing. 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.
The provincial emergency office said two foreigners also died in the accident. China News Service said one of them was a female in her 20s.
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."
"Right now, we still don't know whether there are any more survivors. That is our main task now. Also, we are trying to get the railway line to be operational again."
Dozens of rescue workers and firefighters used excavators to move the wreckage of the two trains as they believe more bodies were in one of the carriages that was dangling beside the bridge. It was unclear how many were on the trains at the time of the accident.
Chinese authorities suspended 21 trains after the collision, state news agency Xinhua said. It also reported that Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang is going to the scene to help out in the relief work and investigation. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao also called for all-out efforts to rescue passengers and ordered to make rescue work a priority, according to a government statement.
