35 dead, scores injured in China train crash

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, state media and an official said on Sunday.

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 250kmh, the China Daily reported.

The first train was travelling 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 8:27pm on Saturday (local time), the official Xinhua News Agency said. The second train had left Beijing and both trains were destined for Fuzhou in eastern Fujian province.

The Ministry of Railways said in a statement that the first four carriages of the moving train and the last two carriages of the stalled train derailed.

An official surnamed Hua in the Zhejiang provincial emergency office told The Associated Press that 35 people had died, including one foreign female. He said her nationality was not clear. A further 191 people were being treated at hospitals, said Hua, who gave only his surname, as is common with Chinese officials.

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, Xinhua said. China Central Television later said the search-and-rescue operation had ended by 4am Sunday.

A preliminary investigation by the Zhejiang provincial government showed that four coaches of the moving train fell off the viaduct, Xinhua said. The cars plunged about 20 to 30m from the elevated section of track, it said.

Photos taken at the scene showed one badly damaged car lying on its side by the viaduct and another car leaning against the viaduct after landing on its end.

Xinhua quoted an unidentified witness as saying, "Rescuers have dragged many passengers out of the coach that fell on the ground."

The Wenzhou city government said more than 1000 people participated in the rescue operation.

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

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

The trains involved are "D'' trains - first-generation bullet trains with an average speed of about 150kmh  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 13,000km of track this year and 16,000km 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 news reports say they include kickbacks, bribes, illegal contracts and sexual liaisons.