Railway accident kills 4, injures 34 in Guangxi
- Source: Global Times
- [07:41 July 30 2009]
- Comments
By Chen Yang
Four passengers were killed and 34 were injured after a train derailed in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the early morning yesterday due to a rain-triggered landslide, according to CCTV news.
Workers use a large crane to lift a damaged locomotive and carriages from a train that derailed near Liuzhou, Guangxin Zhuang Autonomous Region yesterday. Photo: Huang Xiaobang
Train 1473, going from Xiangfan, Hubei Province to Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, derailed at 4:22 am in Liuzhou. The locomotive and the first four carriages were forced off the track by rubble from the landslide, said Chen Ming, head of the publicity department of the Nanning Railway Bureau.
Three people were dead on the scene, and one died on the way to the hospital. Of the 34 injured, 11 are in serious condition, including one of the train drivers, while the other driver is slightly wounded.
Two of the injured are in critical condition. Most of the injured have been transferred to four hospitals in Liuzhou with better facilities, said Chen.
The railway route linking Jiaozuo, Central Henan Province, to Liuzhou, was cut off. About 1,400 passengers were taken to nearby railway stations or Liuzhou to continue their travel plans, she said.
“We arrived at the spot at 5:40 am, by which time some passengers had already escaped the train by themselves. The second carriage was badly damaged and we rescued 16 passengers using emergency hammers and cutting machines. Rescue work ended around 8 am,” Zhou Wei, the chief of Liucheng County Fire Brigade, told the Global Times yesterday.
“Several hundred workers are clearing rock and debris from the line. Two heavy-duty cranes were sent to lift the damaged carriages away from the track. The rest of the carriages were removed by a rescue train,” said Zhou from the scene of the accident.
“The oil leaked from the locomotive when we tried to lift them, so oil pumping trucks were sent to remove the fuel, and our firefighters are nearby holding squirt guns to ensure its safety,” he said, “The route is expected to resume traffic before 6 pm.”
The accident was caused by a landslide triggered by heavy rains in the past few days, said Xiang Jun, secretary general of the Liuzhou government.
Heavy rains hit the northern and central parts of Guangxi from Monday to early yesterday.
