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Passenger train derails in east China, at least 3 killed

23 May 2010 04:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least three people were killed in east China’s Jiangxi Province when a passenger train derailed after being hit by landslides at Sunday dawn, authorities said, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.
The train, bound for the tourist city of Guilin in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from Shanghai, derailed at around 2:10 a.m. in Dongxiang county, Fuzhou city, the Ministry of Railways said in a press release. At least ten passengers were injured.
Xinhua reporters who rushed to the scene saw the locomotive, plus eight of the 17 carriages of the train -- coded K859 -- derailed and some even overturned in the mountainous area of Jiangxi. One carriage was twisted and crushed on the other.
Soldiers were rescuing those who remain trapped inside the train. More than a dozen ambulances were parked along the tracks.
Rescuers told Xinhua at least 20 injured passengers were saved. Four in serious conditions were rushed to hospital.
It is not yet immediately known how many passengers were on board.
Trains on the Shanghai-Kunming railway were halted after the accident.
Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun has ordered all-out efforts to save lives, to restore the railway transport and to launch a thorough investigation of the cause of the accident.
Governor of Jiangxi Wu Xinxiong arrived at Dongxiang early Sunday morning to supervise the rescue operations.
Most parts of Jiangxi, along with neighboring provinces, were drenched by heavy rains in the past few days. Farms were destroyed, low-lying villages and towns flooded, and at least four reservoirs were forced to release fast-rising water.
Local authorities said around 1.46 million residents were affected, with 44,600 being evacuated out of dangerous zones.
In parts of south China, rainstorms since early May have triggered floods and mud-rock flows, swollen rivers, burst dikes, threatened reservoirs and damaged highways, bridges and power facilities.