A high-speed rail driver in southern China was killed and eight people were injured when two coaches derailed early Saturday morning after colliding with a mudslide, China Central Television reported.
The accident occurred while the train was entering a tunnel in southern Guizhou Province. The train was on a regular route to the coastal business hub of Guangzhou.
China Central Television reported that the injured are in stable condition, and 136 other people who were on the train were safely evacuated.
It is reported that the cause of the accident is under investigation. Landslides have become common in the area as a result of a combination of heavy rainfall and infrastructure development in mountainous areas.
China has the world’s largest high-speed rail network, with 40,000 km of tracks nationwide, and trains running at speeds of more than 300 km per hour.
Hundreds of millions of passengers are transported through this network annually, although this number has fallen sharply in light of the travel restrictions associated with the Corona pandemic.
High-speed trains at a station in Shanghai (archive)
The overall safety record of China’s railway system is good, with the exception of a 2011 accident between two trains outside the southern city of Wenzhou, which left 40 people dead and sparked a public outcry over an apparent attempt to cover up the extent of the damage.
China’s aviation sector has also come under scrutiny recently following the crash of a China Eastern Airlines passenger plane on March 21 that killed all 132 people on board.
On May 12, a Tibet Airlines flight with 122 people on board was taking off from the southwestern city of Chongqing when it skidded off the runway and caught fire. No one was killed in this accident, but several passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
