Beijing: A Chinese bullet train derailed on Saturday with two of its carriages plunged into the river, reaching the death toll to 32 and wounding dozens others, Chinese media reported.
The incident took place in Wenzhou’s Shuangyu Town when the high-speed train was travelling between the cities of Hangzhou and Wenzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province around 8:30pm (1230 GMT), local firefighting sources.
China’s state-run news agency said that the derailed train’s number was D3115.
The capacity of each car of the train was about 100 passengers, Xinhua news agency reported.
At least 90 people suffered injuries in the incident. Rescue operation has been in progress and injured were shifted to several hospital.
The accident occurred less than a month after China inaugurated with great fanfare a new flagship $33 billion line from Beijing to Shanghai that halves the rail journey time between the two Chinese cities to five hours.
It was opened on the eve of July 1 celebrations to mark the 90th birthday of China’s Communist Party and authorities touted it as yet another symbol of the country’s growing advancement.
However, the new Beijing-Shanghai line has suffered problems with delays caused by power outages, sparking a slew of criticism online and in Chinese media.
China has poured money into a massive rail expansion but the huge investments have made the sector a hotbed for corruption, and raised concerns over costs and whether corners were being cut on rail safety.
China’s state auditor has said construction companies and individuals last year drew off 187 million yuan ($29 million) from the Beijing-Shanghai project.
