At least 8 people killed, more than 50 hurt, in train derailment in eastern China

Train hits landslide, derails in China, killing 8

BEIJING — A passenger train hit by landslides derailed Sunday in eastern China, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 50 others, state television reported.

The train, bound for the tourist destination of Guilin, derailed around 2 a.m. Sunday in a mountainous area near Fuzhou city in eastern Jiangxi province, China Central Television reported.

Earlier, CCTV reported 10 people had died but later revised the figure to eight.

Heavy rains caused a landslide that buried the railroad tracks, and the train derailed when it crashed into the huge mounds of dirt and debris, CCTV said.

About 2,000 rescuers, including firefighters, police and soldiers, deployed to the scene found 10 bodies and pulled out 53 others who were trapped inside the crushed train carriages, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Rescuers evacuated another 280 people by 9 a.m.

A total of 55 people were injured, with two of them in critical condition, Xinhua said.

Rescue officials said there remains a risk of landslides in the area.

Xinhua reporters at the scene described seeing the locomotive, along with eight of the 17 train carriages, derailed and even overturned in the mountainous area. Rescuers used heavy cutting equipment to cut their way into the overturned train cars.

An investigation of the accident is under way, with Jiangxi Governor Wu Xinxiong arriving Sunday on the scene to oversee rescue operations.

Heavy rainstorms have pounded the area in recent days, and local reservoirs have been forced to release fast-rising waters. Low-lying farms and residential areas have been flooded, Xinhua said.