China Train Accident

China Train Accident

The death toll in China's first bullet train crash has risen to 43 as the shocked government on Sunday sacked three top rail officials holding them responsible for the accident that also left 211 passengers injured.

The accident took place last night when a train that lost power after being struck by lightning was hit by another train, sending four compartments plunging from a viaduct and derailing another two, officials said as rescuers today recovered eight more bodies from the wreckage.

The first train was travelling south from Hangzhou, the capital of southern Zhejiang Province, when it lost power and stalled, before being hit by another train in Wenzhou city, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

There was, however, some good news as a toddler was rescued about 21 hours after the deadly crash, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

"When we found him, he could still move his hands," a local firefighter said, adding clean-up efforts have nearly been completed.

The sacked officials are Long Jing, head of the Shanghai Railway Bureau, Li Jia, head of the Shanghai railway bureau's committee of the Communist Party of China and deputy chief of the bureau He Shengli. They will also be subject to investigation.

Pan Yiheng, the driver of one train died after the brake handle pierced through his chest under the impact of the collusion. He managed to apply the emergency brake at the last moment of his life.