At around
CST 2:10 am (
UTC+8
UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00.
With an estimated population of 1.708 billion living within the time zone, roughly 24% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a ...
)
on 23 May 2010, train K859 travelling from Shanghai to
Guilin
Guilin ( Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the nort ...
derailed in a mountainous area in
Dongxiang County, within
Fuzhou City, Jiangxi. At least 19 people died, and 71 were injured.
A total of at least 53 people were rescued and another 280 were taken from the train. Within 12 hours all survivors had been removed as the rescue effort got underway.
Incident
According to the
Ministry of Railways
A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...
, the train was derailed by flaws in the track caused by a landslide.
The landslide was caused by previous days of heavy rain and flooding in the region, with recent storms in the area having led to the evacuation of 44,600 people and a further people having been affected by the storms.
Some carriages were found overturned, and one carriage was said to have "twisted and crushed another".
A passenger, who broke his arm but managed to escape the wreckage without help, reportedly "saw bits of bodies on the floor".
A member of the railway police at the scene said, "Each carriage had 118 seats. It is not yet immediately known how many passengers were aboard". More than 280 passengers were evacuated from the train and 53 had been freed from the wreckage as of 9:00 CST on Sunday.
Four legal medical experts were requested to assist with identification of bodies.
Response
The accident caused the closure of the
Shanghai-Kunming railway line.
Around 2,000 people, among them fire-fighters, police and soldiers, removed at least 280 trapped passengers and other people from the wreckage.
An investigation was launched by
Chinese authorities.
The incident occurred on the same day as a truck and bus collision which killed 32 people and hospitalised 21 others.
Within 24 hours all of the derailed carriages had been removed from the site. Rail services resumed at around 22:00 23 May 2010 (
BT).
See also
*
2010 Merano train derailment
*
2008 Shandong train collision
References
External links
* Pictures
1
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuzhou train derailment
Railway accidents in 2010
Derailments in China
2010 in China
Fuzhou, Jiangxi
Transport in Jiangxi
Jiangxi derailment