China bullet train derailed after 'lightning'; coaches fall off bridge

A Chinese high-speed train derailed Saturday and two of its carriages fell off a bridge after a lightning strike knocked out power on the line, state media said, adding that casualties were not yet known.

The train was travelling between the cities of Hangzhou and Wenzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang province when it went off the rails around 8:30pm (1230 GMT), Xinhua news agency reported, citing local firefighting sources.

It said the derailed train's number was D3115 and the accident occurred in Wenzhou's Shuangyu town.

China National Radio quoted an unnamed Shanghai Railway Bureau official as saying the accident was triggered by a lightning strike.

But a flurry of postings on China's popular Twitter-like microblogging services said the derailment was actually caused when a second train ploughed into the stationary one from behind.

The reports also said there were sizeable casualties at the scene, without specifying if there were fatalities.

AFP was not immediately available to confirm the blog reports.

Photos posted online appeared to showed one long rail carriage standing vertical, with one end on a concrete bridge and the other resting on the ground at least 10 metres (33 feet) below.

They also showed people being carried away from the scene, although it was not clear whether those victims were injured or dead.

No casualty figures had been officially announced nearly three hours after the accident but Xinhua said the capacity of each car on the train was about 100 passengers.

The accident occurred less than a month after China inaugurated with great fanfare a new flagship ê33 billion line from Beijing to Shanghai that halves the rail journey time between the two Chinese cities to five hours.

It was opened on the eve of July 1 celebrations to mark the 90th birthday of China's Communist Party and authorities touted it as yet another symbol of the country's growing advancement.

However, the new Beijing-Shanghai line has suffered problems with delays caused by power outages, sparking a slew of criticism online and in Chinese media.

China has poured money into a massive rail expansion but the huge investments have made the sector a hotbed for corruption, and raised concerns over costs and whether corners were being cut on rail safety.

China's state auditor has said construction companies and individuals last year siphoned off 187 million yuan (ê29 million) from the Beijing-Shanghai project.

The revelation followed the February sacking of former railways minister Liu Zhijun, who allegedly took more than 800 million yuan in kickbacks over several years on contracts linked to China's high-speed network.

The official China Daily said Monday the power supply incident on the Beijing-Shanghai line had raised fresh concerns over the safety of the landmark link, which opened a year ahead of schedule.

Similar trains are used on the line where the accident occurred, which was operating before the new Beijing-Shanghai link.

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