16 killed in China bullet-train crash
WENZHOU, China, July 23 (UPI) -- Two coaches of a Chinese bullet train fell from an elevated track after a crash Saturday, killing at least 16 people, firefighters said.
At least 89 people were injured, Xinhua, the official government news agency, reported.
The crash occurred in Wenzhou in eastern China. Local officials said a train from Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, to Fuzhou lost power after being struck by lightning, and was hit by another train.
The trains involved have a maximum speed of 155 mph, the Los Angeles Times said. While questions have been raised recently about the safety of high-speed trains in China, the crash was the first major one on the network.
One witness told Xinhua that one of the coaches fell more than 70 feet to the ground while another was hanging vertically from the bridge.
Someone using the name "Sam Is Me" wrote in his microblog at about 9 p.m. Saturday that he was stuck on the train. At 11:20 p.m., he reported he had been rescued and said he was "touched" by volunteers who escorted him from the train to an aid station.
"Please help me!...Help!!! Help!!!" he wrote in his first post. "I'm so scared."
Photographs transmitted from the scene showed passengers joining in the rescue effort, Xinhua said.
