BEIJING: A collision between two trains in the Shanghai metro system left 260 people injured, some of them seriously, on Tuesday afternoon. It caused an uproar among thousands of internet users who made angry postings over the second accident soon after a deadly crash last July.
The Shanghai Metro Company said most of the injuries were minor. Over 500 people have been evacuated from the accident site, and nine stations have been closed, it said.
The news was first broken by citizen journalists over the internet, and even the official China Central Television was showing pictures from the web instead of using its own footage. The Chinese government was shaken and forced to take some drastic action after the July accident resulted in a flood of protest postings over the internet, which has emerged as the only viable opposition voice in China.
Several people were seen bleeding in photos posted on weibo.com, China's popular Twitter-like microblogging service, showed several passengers bleeding, with firefighters entering the train to rescue the injured. Internet users are questioning the government's focus for high-speed development at the cost of ensuring safety for passengers.
"Police and armed police have been dispatched to the scene to help with the evacuation," it said in a statement.
The reason behind the crash is being investigated, but accusing fingers are already being leveled at the Chinese-built signaling system, which has been blamed for the train crash last July that resulted in 40 deaths.
The official media said there was signal system failure at about 2:10pm, and officials were forced to direct the movement of trains over phone instead of using electric signals. Trains were also being run at slower speeds after the signals failed, it said.
The Shanghai Metro Company said most of the injuries were minor. Over 500 people have been evacuated from the accident site, and nine stations have been closed, it said.
The news was first broken by citizen journalists over the internet, and even the official China Central Television was showing pictures from the web instead of using its own footage. The Chinese government was shaken and forced to take some drastic action after the July accident resulted in a flood of protest postings over the internet, which has emerged as the only viable opposition voice in China.
Several people were seen bleeding in photos posted on weibo.com, China's popular Twitter-like microblogging service, showed several passengers bleeding, with firefighters entering the train to rescue the injured. Internet users are questioning the government's focus for high-speed development at the cost of ensuring safety for passengers.
"Police and armed police have been dispatched to the scene to help with the evacuation," it said in a statement.
The reason behind the crash is being investigated, but accusing fingers are already being leveled at the Chinese-built signaling system, which has been blamed for the train crash last July that resulted in 40 deaths.
The official media said there was signal system failure at about 2:10pm, and officials were forced to direct the movement of trains over phone instead of using electric signals. Trains were also being run at slower speeds after the signals failed, it said.
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