Train collision kills at least 70, injures hundreds _English

Photo taken on April 28, 2008, shows the site of the trains colliding accident, in east China's Shandong Province. Passenger train T195 en route from Beijing to Qingdao city in eastern China derailed and hit train 5034 early on Monday, causing "heavy casualties", witnesses and a government spokesman confirmed.

Photo taken on April 28, 2008, shows the site of the trains colliding accident, in east China's Shandong Province. Passenger train T195 en route from Beijing to Qingdao city in eastern China derailed and hit train 5034 early on Monday, causing "heavy casualties", witnesses and a government spokesman confirmed.(Xinhua Photo)
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JINAN, April 28 (Xinhua) -- A high-speed passenger train jumped the track in the eastern province of Shandong early on Monday, striking another train and leaving 70 dead and 416 injured, railway authorities confirmed.

President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have urged all-out efforts in the train wreck. Preliminary investigations suggested the accident was caused by human error. Authorities have ruled out the possibility of a terror attack.

The casualties were from both trains, one of which was en route from Beijing to Qingdao, a famous summer resort in Shandong and venue of the Olympic sailing competition. The other was traveling from Yantai, Shandong to Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province.

The high-speed train from Beijing, coded T195, derailed in the city of Zibo at about 4:40 a.m. and smashed into train 5034. The second train also left the tracks. At least 12 cars from both trains derailed.

No foreign citizens were killed in the accident, which occurred just before the May Day national holiday passenger rush. However, four French nationals were hospitalized with bone fractures. They were identified as 54-year-old Pascal Boisson, his 14-year-old son Pierre Emmanuel Boisson, 22-year-old daughter Joanne Boisson, and his girlfriend Robin Naurence, 42.

The youngest patient was a 3-and-a-half-year-old boy, Liu Jinhang, from Qingdao.

Rescuers work at the site of the trains colliding accident, in east China's Shandong Province, on April 28, 2008. Passenger train T195 en route from Beijing to Qingdao city in eastern China derailed and hit train 5034 early on Monday, causing "heavy casualties", witnesses and a government spokesman confirmed.

Rescuers work at the site of the trains colliding accident, in east China's Shandong Province, on April 28, 2008. Passenger train T195 en route from Beijing to Qingdao city in eastern China derailed and hit train 5034 early on Monday, causing "heavy casualties", witnesses and a government spokesman confirmed.(Xinhua Photo)
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