(WatchDogReport.org) – A rush hour crash between two subway trains in China’s capital city, Beijing, left 103 people severely injured on December 14. According to Chinese state media, over 500 people had to be transferred to a hospital after the collision, which took place at 19:00 local time. China Daily pointed out that the trains crashed while they were going on Chanping’s subway line during one of the heaviest snowfalls that the Chinese capital had in years.
While 425 people have already been discharged from the hospital, the rest are still being treated by health specialists at the time of this writing as they suffered different types of fractures. China Daily mentioned that even when snowstorms tend to happen in Beijing every year, these accidents “are not common” in the capital city’s transport network.
The snowstorm caused a “signal degradation” that led the first subway train to break abruptly. Beijing transport authorities said in a statement that it was “impossible” for the other subway train to brake in time while it was coming down the tracks, causing it to collide with the first train’s rear. Authorities added that the impact was so strong that it caused the last two carriages of the first train to detach.
Numerous videos and photos published on Chinese social media showed the chaos of the moment, with many commuters crowded in carriages being left in the dark because of the power cuts caused by the crash. Some of them can be seen using the train’s emergency hammers to break windows to get some fresh air.
The accident sparked furious posts on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, with thousands of users expressing their shock over the number of injuries and the fact that the Chinese transport system remains “unsafe” for thousands of people. Some others claimed that Chinese authorities were taking the lives of many Chinese “too lightly” because of the lack of routine inspection in Beijing Subway, which posted on its Weibo account an apology statement.
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