25 July,2011 07:19 AM IST | | Agencies
Emergency workers in eastern China yesterday rescued a young boy from the wreck of a high-speed train, nearly a full day after a collision that killed at least 35 people and injured more than 200 others south of Shanghai.
The rescue of the four-year-old boy came about 21 hours after a southbound bullet train, travelling between the cities of Hangzhou and Wenzhou, was disabled by a lighting strike on a bridge and a second high-speed train plowed into the stalled streamliner.
Bystanders look at rescue operations which continue on
the wreckage. China has ordered an 'urgent' overhaul of rail safety
"When we found him, he could still move his hands," said the firefighter, adding that cleanup efforts around the bridge where the accident took place have nearly been completed.
The boy was rushed to the No. 118 Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in the city of Wenzhou, he said. Thirty-five people have been killed and another 210 have been injured in the accident, according to officials.
Authorities moved quickly to curb public anger at the wreck, with Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang at the scene to oversee rescue operations. Three senior railway officials have been fired after the crash.
China has spent billions of dollars to connect its cities with high-speed rail, but this is the second time in recent weeks a storm has been blamed for causing problems.
Earlier this month, a storm-induced power failure caused a 90-minute delay on the new Beijing-to-Shanghai line.
In less than four weeks of operation, power outages and other malfunctions have plagued the showcase 1,318-kilometre line.
The Railways Ministry has apologised for the problems and said that summer thunderstorms and winds were the cause in some cases.
It was China's worst train accident since April 2008, when a train travelling from Beijing to the eastern coastal city of Qingdao derailed and crashed into another train, leaving 72 dead and another 416 injured.
