Society

Train bridge collapses after rains

By Huang Zhiling (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-20 07:10

CHENGDU - Two train carriages plunged into a river after floods destroyed part of a bridge on the railway line in southwest China's Sichuan province on Thursday.

Two train carriages plunge into the Shitingjiang River after floods destroyed the Shitingjiang bridge section of the railway, which links Baoji of Shaanxi province and Chengdu of Sichuan province, on Thursday. [Xinhua]

No casualties were reported and no one was missing after the accident. All passengers had been ordered off the two carriages before they fell into the Shitingjiang River in Xiaohan town, Guanghan.

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Three passengers who were slightly injured when the conductor engaged the emergency brake were being treated at a hospital in Guanghan, according to Qu Zhi, an information officer in Deyang, which oversees the administration of Guangyan.

The rest of the passengers were evacuated to a local high school, according to the Chengdu railway bureau, which supervises railway lines in Sichuan province.

The train, which was traveling from Xi'an, capital of northwestern Shaanxi province, to Kunming, capital of southwestern Yunnan province, had 1,300 passengers on board.

The railway line links Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, and Baoji in Shaanxi.

When the 18-carriage train passed the Shitingjiang railway bridge at 3:20 pm, a section of the bridge suddenly collapsed.

Its No 14 and No 15 carriages derailed before falling into the river, said Wang Chao, a militiaman in Xiaohan town.

Following excessive rain in the town on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Wang and 50 other militiamen had been posted to contain flooding around the railway bridge, which had been damaged by floodwater.

As the train approached, it set off vibrations that caused piers in the center of the bridge to collapse, leaving two carriages suspended in the air, Wang said.

Before the carriages fell into the river, Wang and his team broke the windows with hammers and helped 200 passengers escape, he said.

Heavy rain has repeatedly pounded Sichuan this summer, triggering floods and landslides. Further rain is forecast over the next few days.