Eleven people were killed and two others injured after a test train hit a group of maintenance workers on a track in the southwestern city of Kunming early Thursday, media reported.
A train carrying out tests of seismic equipment struck the workers as it passed through a curved section of track.
Accident was held at Luoyangzhen Station in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, according to China Railway Kunming Group Co.
The cause of the accident is under investigation and the railway station has resumed operations, the China News Agency said Xinhua reported. Authorities have reportedly called it the nation’s deadliest rail accident in more than a decade.
After the accident, the railway authorities immediately launched emergency response protocols. Xinhua said they were working with the local government to coordinate rescue efforts and provide medical treatment to the injured.
China operates one of the largest railway networks in the world, and although fatal accidents have decreased significantly in recent decades, the country has still experienced several serious rail accidents in recent years.
Previous incidents include:
- Earlier, about 66 people were killed when two passenger trains collided near the city of Zibo in east China’s Shandong province in 2008.
Several people were injured in a train collision in Slovakia
Several people were injured in train crash November 9 in Slovakia, the press agency reported Associated Press.
The incident occurred near the town of Pezinok, north of the capital Bratislava, when a high-speed train collided with the back of a passenger train.
As many as 79 passengers out of approximately 800 people traveling on the trains were taken to hospitals. Most suffered only minor injuries.
Slovak Health Minister Kamil Sasko said on November 10 that 13 people are still hospitalized, but none are in danger.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico suggested that the collision was likely caused by human error. He further rejected the resignation of Transport Minister Jozef Raz, saying that he would not accept it after the second similar incident in a month.
The previous accident happened on October 13, when two express trains collided in eastern Slovakia and dozens of passengers were injured.
