China train crash claims 70 lives
Published:Monday | April 28, 2008 | 3:15 PM
At least 70 people have been killed and 400 injured, many of them seriously, after two trains collided at dawn in eastern China.
Chinese state media report that a train travelling from Beijing to the summer resort of Qingdao derailed and hit the other, which was going from Yantai to Xuzhou.
Nine coaches of the Qingdao-bound train toppled into a ditch after the crash, outside Zibo city in Shandong province.
Just hours after the crash, an inquiry reportedly concluded that it was caused by human error.
The state-run Xinhua news agency said two senior railway officials have already been sacked.
The crash is the second major railway incident in Shandong this year.
In January 18 people died near the city of Anqiu, when a high-speed train from Beijing hit a group of track-maintenance workers.