Wenzhou City,China Traine Collision,35 Kill

Shuangyu Bridge,Train Collision in Wenzhou City

It was the first derailment on China's high-speed rail network since the country launched its bullet trains in 2007 with a top speed of 155 miles (250 kilometers) per hour.

TThe accident occurred on a bridge in Shuangyu Town in Wenzhou City at around 8:50 p.m. local time (1250 GMT) on Saturday after lightning struck a bullet train en route from Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, to the southeastern city of Fuzhou, Fujian province and crippled it

A bullet train crashed into another high-speed train that had stalled after being struck by lightning in eastern China, causing four carriages to fall off a viaduct and killing at least 35 people and injuring 191 others.

How DID IT HAPPEN??

The first train was traveling south from the Zhejiang provincial capital of Hangzhou when it lost power in the lightning strike and was hit from behind by the second train in Wenzhou city at 8:27 p.m. (1230 GMT) Saturday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The second train had left Beijing and both trains were destined for Fuzhou in eastern Fujian province.

The first four carriages of the moving train and the last two carriages of the stall train derailed.

China Rescue Team

Early Sunday, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao called for an all-out effort to rescue passengers still trapped in the wreckage hours after the collision.

A preliminary investigation by the Zhejiang provincial government showed that four coaches of the moving train fell off the viaduct, The cars plunged about 65 to 100 feet (20 to 30 meters) from the elevated section of track.



About 1,500 passengers were taken to a middle school, and more than 500 residents had given blood by 9 a.m. Sunday after appeals from the local blood bank, which said many of the injured needed transfusions.

Minister of Railways Sheng Guangzu, who was heading to the accident scene, ordered an in-depth investigation of the accident.

The trains involved are "D'' trains — first-generation bullet trains with an average speed of about 95 miles (150 kilometers) per hour and not as fast as the new Beijing-Shanghai line.

China has spent billions of dollars and plans more massive spending to link the country with a high-speed rail network. Power outages and other malfunctions have plagued the showcase high-speed line between Beijing and Shanghai since it opened June 30.

Official plans call for China's bullet train network to expand to 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) of track this year and 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) by 2020.

The huge spending connected with the rail expansion also has been blamed for corruption. Railways Minister Liu Zhijun was dismissed this spring amid an investigation into unspecified corruption allegations.

No details have been released about the allegations against him, but It is said that they include kickbacks, bribes, illegal contracts and sexual liaisons.