China passenger train collision kills at least 70, injures hundreds

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A high-speed passenger train jumped its tracks and slammed into another train in eastern China on Monday, killing at least 70 people and injuring more than 400 in China's worst train accident in a decade. Some passengers were sleeping and others were standing in the aisle waiting to get off in Zibo when their train toppled into a ditch "like a roller coaster" and slammed into the other train. China reacted swiftly, sending top officials and soldiers to the scene, and sacking two railway officials. Authorities were quoted as saying that human error was to blame. The official Xinhua News Agency also said one of the trains was traveling over its speed limit. News photos showed rescuers pulling passengers from a carriage sitting on its side. Survivors bundled in white bed sheets from the sleeper cars stood or sat near the wreckage. The death toll could rise, with 70 people hospitalized in critical condition, according to Xinhua.