Man dies on Tibet train trip

2006-08-28 14:57

Hong Kong - A 75-year-old Hong Kong man has become the first passenger to die on board the world's highest railway line running from western China to Tibet, a radio report said on Monday.

The man had a fatal collapse while travelling from Lhasa in Tibet to Xining in China on the 1 142km railway line that opened on July 1, climbing to 5km above sea level on the Tibetan plateau.

The Hong Kong man was admitted to hospital in Lhasa with heart problems and was advised to wait two weeks before travelling, Hong Kong's government-run radio station RTHK reported.

However, he insisted on catching the train to Xining and collapsed while travelling on the railway with his wife, RTHK said. The report did not give the date of the man's death.

Oxygen for altitude sickness

The man is the first passenger to die on board the train, which has oxygenated air pumped around its carriages and oxygen tubes beneath seats for passengers who suffer altitude sickness.

Chinese President Hu Jintao opened the line from the frontier town of Golmud to Lhasa on July 1, linking Tibet with China's extensive rail network for the first time.

Overseas activists have called for a boycott of the railway, saying it will speed up the migration of ethnic Chinese people into Tibet, a former Buddhist kingdom invaded by China in 1951. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA