2 Trains Collide in China Killing 28, Injuring 100

Two passenger trains collided Thursday on the outskirts of Shanghai, killing at least 28 people, including 26 Japanese students, and injuring more than 100.

The accident occurred when the engineer of a southbound train ignored a signal, moved out of the suburban Shanghai station of Kuangxiang and crashed into a northbound train from Changsha, the official New China News Agency reported.

In the front coaches of the southbound train, which was headed for the city of Hangzhou, were 193 Japanese high school students and teachers on a trip to China, according to a spokesman for the Japanese Embassy in Beijing.

Wang Mingyang, a spokesman for the Shaghai foreign affairs office, said that 99 people were still hospitalized this morning, while others had been treated and released. The death toll included 26 Japanese students, one of their teachers and a Chinese citizen, he said.

Safety Issue

Transportation safety has become an increasingly serious issue in China in recent months, since 141 people were killed in three major train accidents in January. Also in January, 108 people were killed in a plane crash.

Ding Guangen, an alternate member of the policy-setting Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, accepted responsibility for the January train accidents and resigned from his post as minister of railways.

Kengo Kobayashi, the Japanese Embassy spokesman, said the Japanese students were all juniors from a high school in Kochi.

Japanese high schools customarily organize a trip for students during their junior year, he said.

The Chinese legislature, the National People’s Congress, whose annual session opens today, is expected to approve a plan to improve management of rail and air service by merging the Ministry of Railways and the national airline into a new Ministry of Transportation.