|
Train ploughs into workers
25/01/2008 09:41 - (SA)
Beijing - A high-speed train ploughed into a group of railway workers in eastern China this week, killing 18 people, the government said on Friday.
Nine others were injured in the accident on Wednesday night in Shandong province which occurred as workers were relocating a stretch of track, the state work safety administration said in a statement on its website.
The train had been travelling at 120km/h at the time of the accident, Xinhua news agency said.
State television said a nightly speed limit for trains had been imposed in the city of Weifang to allow work on the track. However labourers had started their work just before the limit went into effect, leading to the tragedy.
The line connects Beijing with the port of Qingdao.
The workers were employees of China Railway 16th Group, a state-owned construction company that regularly undergoes contract work for the Railway Ministry, Xinhua said.
A spokesperson for China Railway 16th Group told AFP by phone the company had no further information on the accident, blaming bad weather at the scene.
"We don't have more information than the (government) on the accident at present. It's snowing heavily in the area and traffic and telecommunications are very bad, we have not received an update from the scene," he said.
The spokesperson declined to give his name.
Deadly incidents are not uncommon on China's extensive rail system.
In one of the worst accidents, 126 people were killed and more than 200 injured when two trains collided in central China's Hunan province in 1997.
- AFP
|
News
