42 killed in China road, rail accidents

BEIJING - At least 32 people were killed in a collision between two vehicles in northeastern China, while 10 others died when a train derailed in east China Sunday, authorities said.

According to transport officials, the collision between a bus and a truck occurred on a four-lane expressway in Liaoning province, where maintenance work was underway at a section of the road.

A spokesman of the provincial authority said the truck went in the wrong direction driving out of a service area along the expressway and collided with a passenger bus head-on.

Three occupants of the truck and 28 bus passengers died on the spot while one of the 22 injured succumbed in hospital, he said.

In a separate incident, a passenger train derailed in east China’s Jiangxi province, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55.

The train, bound for the tourist city of Guilin from Shanghai, derailed at around 2:10 a.m. in Fuzhou city after being hit by landslides, ministry of railways said in a statement.

The engine and eight of the 17 coaches of the train derailed and some even overturned, Xinhua reported.

“Each of the train carriages has 118 seats. It is not yet immediately known how many passengers were on board,” a police officer surnamed Luo was quoted as saying.

“We are afraid the casualties may soon rise, as four of the derailed train cars were severely deformed in the accident,” he said.

Most parts of Jiangxi and neighbouring provinces were drenched by heavy rains in the past few days. Farms were destroyed, low-lying villages and towns flooded, and at least four reservoirs were forced to release fast-rising water.

Local authorities said around 1.46 million residents were affected, with 44,600 being evacuated out of dangerous zones.

In parts of south China, rainstorms since early May have triggered floods due to swollen rivers, burst dikes and damaged highways, bridges and power facilities.