CHINA: Premier Wen Jiabao meets with victims of high-speed train crash that killed 39

Record ID: 1959596

  • Title: CHINA: Premier Wen Jiabao meets with victims of high-speed train crash that killed 39
  • Date: 29th July 2011
  • Summary: WENZHOU, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE, CHINA (JULY 28, 2011) (ORIGNALLY 4:3) (CCTV - NO ACCESS CHINA) CHINESE PREMIER WEN JIABAO STANDING IN HOSPITAL IN FRONT OF INJURED WOMAN'S BED WEN HOLDING INJURED WOMAN'S HAND WEN SPEAKING, HOLDING WOMAN'S HAND EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL WEN APPROACHING INJURED MAN'S BED VARIOUS OF WEN STANDING OVER BED AND SPEAKING TO INJURED MAN DOCTORS WEN
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  • Location: China, China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Disasters,Politics,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVA5CSXBMXPP4RXIXHFK9D6RZWO
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday (July 28) met with the victims and families of victims of a high-speed rail crash.
    A high-speed train rammed into a stalled train late on Saturday (June 23) killing 39 people. Soon after the crash, domestic media had blamed foreign technology.
    Premier Wen Jiabao visited the crash site near Wenzhou city in Zhejiang province and vowed a thorough and transparent investigation. He said an illness had prevented him visiting the scene earlier.
    China's ruling Communist Party leaders rarely give news conferences, and Wen's visit to the relatively prosperous commercial corner of China showed how worried the government is about public ire over official handling of the accident, which has sparked an uproar on the Internet and at least one protest.
    State-run broadcaster CCTV showed Wen standing beside the hospital beds of injured people, holding their hands and speaking to them.
    He visited a two-year-old girl who was pulled from the wreckage of a carriage, both her legs are now bandaged.
    Wen also bowed in front of family members of the dead in a hotel, promising them a full inquiry into the accident.
    A Chinese railway research institute took responsibility on Thursday for a flaw in signalling equipment that led to the deadly accident and stoked widespread public anger and suspicion of the government's high-speed rail plans.
    Railway authorities said a signal, that should have turned red after lightning hit the train that stalled, remained green, and rail staff then failed to see something was amiss, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.
    The Beijing National Railway Research & Design Institute of Signals and Communications Co. Ltd., in a rare admission of responsibility for a disaster, issued an apology, acknowledging it was the source of the deadly flaw.
    The admission of guilt came in the face of public ire about the accident that has escalated into angry accusations that officials had covered up facts and stifled media coverage to protect an ambitious rail expansion plan and the Communist Party's image of unruffled control.
    Wen, who is aged 68 and will retire from late next year, said he could not visit the accident site earlier because he was sick in bed.
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