28 Killed and 11 Injured in Bus, Train Collision in Xinjiang

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 26, 2001

28 Killed and 11 Injured in Bus, Train Collision in Xinjiang

A train running on the Turpan-Kashi railway in southern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region collided with a minibus at an unmanned crossing near Artux Monday morning, killing 28 people and injuring 11 others. Sources from Urumqi Railways Administration said that part of the train was obviously damaged.

At least 28 people were killed and 11 injured when a train slammed into a packed bus at a railway crossing in west China's Xinjiang on Monday, officials said on Tuesday.

Two of the 11 injured passengers were still in danger, a doctor at a local hospital told reporters on Tuesday.

The train was running on the Turpan-Kashi railway in southern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region when collided with a minibus at crossing near Artux, some 1,040 km (640 miles) west of the regional capital Urumqi and near the border with Kyrgyzstan.

Sources from Urumqi Railways Administration said that part of the train was obviously damaged.

There were no reports of casualties from the passenger train, which resumed its journey after two hours.

A special group set up by the regional government of Xinjiang in west China hurried to the site of the accident for investigation.

Rescue on Collision Carried Out

Rescue operations on a train, minibus collision in southwestern Xinjiang in Monday morning are being carried out in a tense manner.

After the accident which killed 28 people and injured another 11, local authorities of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and of Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, local medical rescue workers, as well as public security and traffic officers rushed to the site of the tragedy and carried out rescue operations.

Local sources said that in the morning of Monday, Abdurehim Memet, a self-employed driver from Tijian Village of Artux City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, drove a minibus carrying 39 passengers and headed for Artux.

The bus fell off the 15-meter-high roadbed after colliding with a train running from Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, to Kashi, an important city in west Xinjiang, around 11:15 a.m., throwing all passengers out.