President, PM urge all-out efforts in train wreck

BEIJING—President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday issued directives that all-out efforts be made in rescuing and treating the injured from the early morning train collision in east China.
The top leaders also requested relevant offices to properly handle the aftermath, discover the cause of the accident and resume rail operations at the earliest time possible. A high-speed passenger train jumped the track in the eastern province of Shandong early on Monday, striking another train and leaving 70 known dead and 416 injured as of late Monday, according to railway authorities.
The casualties were from both trains, one of which was en route from Beijing to Qingdao, a summer resort in Shandong and venue of the Olympic sailing competition. The other was traveling from Yantai, Shandong to Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. The high-speed train from Beijing, coded T195, derailed in the city of Zibo at about 4:48 a.m. and smashed into train 5034. The second train also left the tracks. At least 14 cars from both trains derailed.
No foreign citizens were killed in the accident, which occurred just before the May Day national holiday passenger rush. However, four French nationals were hospitalized with bone fractures. They were identified as 54-year-old Pascal Boisson, his 14-year-old son Pierre Emmanuel Boisson, 22-year-old daughter Joanne Boisson, and his girlfriend Robin Naurence, 42. Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang rushed to Shandong on Monday morning to direct the rescue work. He also visited the injured at local hospitals and conveyed to the victims and their families the condolences of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council.
Zhang also requested the Railways Ministry, Shandong Province and relevant agencies to make all-out efforts to rescue the injured, clear the scene and repair the facilities for an early resumption of operations. Preliminary investigations suggested the accident was caused by human error. Authorities have ruled out the possibility of terrorism.
Further joint investigations are under way by the authorities of work safety, public security, supervision and railways. Immediately after the accident, two top officials of the Jinan Railway Bureau were sacked. The bureau’s former director Chen Gong and former Communist Party chief Chai Tiemin face an investigation by the Ministry of Railways.
The four injured French nationals from the fatal train collision that killed 70 people and injured another 416 early on Monday in eastern China’s Shandong Province have been confirmed to be family members and a friend. “I am on the way to see my little brother at another hospital,” one of the injured, named Joanne Boisson, 22, told Xinhua by phone.
Joanne and her father, Pascal Boisson, 54, are in Zibo Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. Her 14-year-old brother, Pierre Emmanuel Boisson, sustained shoulder injuries and was taken to Zibo No.1 Hospital. The other injured French national was Pascal Boisson’s friend, Robin Naurence, 42, now in another hospital in the Zichuan District of Zibo City, Joanne Boisson said.
“I was hurt in the back but not very seriously. I don’t feel well,” said Joanne, whose voice sounded weak on the phone. “My father was badly hurt. I’m worried about my brother and Robin Naurence,” she said. Zhang Jun, director of the orthopedics department of the hospital, said that Joanne was experiencing back pain but could walk on her own.
Pascal Boisson suffered multiple rib fractures and leg bruises, Zhang told Xinhua by phone. “He may have another fracture in the chest, but we have to decide that with an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan,” Zhang said. “He may need some time to recover, and he has to stay in bed now,” he said.
Joanne said she has been studying at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Her family was here on a visit from France and they were all planning a holiday of about 10 days. They were among the hundreds involved in the accident, which happened as they were en route to Qingdao, an Olympic co-host city and coastal city of Shandong Province.
Joanne can communicate in Chinese with the doctors and nurses, while her father cannot.
Liang Minglai, president of Zibo Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, said on the phone that he visited Joanne and her father earlier on Monday and arranged a car for her to visit her brother and her father’s friend.
Liang’s hospital has admitted 21 patients, and at least three of them were seriously injured.
Pascal Boisson was the most seriously injured among the four French nationals, Liang said.
Zibo No.1 Hospital, where Pierre has been hospitalized, has mobilized almost all of its doctors and nurses to treat the large number of injured, said a nurse who answered the phone.
Pierre was not severely hurt and was hospitalized in the orthopedics department, she said.
The dead and injured were from two passenger trains, one of which was en route from Beijing to Qingdao, the venue of the Olympic sailing competition, and the other, from Yantai, Shandong, to Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province.
The train from Beijing, coded T195, derailed in the city of Zibo in Shandong Province at about 4:40 a.m. About 10 carriages toppled into a ditch. The derailed train was hit by train 5034, which also left the tracks.