Train collision kills at least 70, injures hundreds | ||||
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2008-04-29 00:00 | ||||
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.
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