Abullet train smashed into another bullet train in eastern China on Saturday night, killing at least 39 passengers and injuring some 200 others. Because a high-speed train network is a symbol of China's rapid economic development, the accident must have dealt a shock to China's leadership, which has vigorously pushed the project.
The accident occurred on a bridge in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. The Railway Ministry says lightning hit and stopped the first train, heading from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, for Fuzhou, Fujian Province; another bullet train, en route from Beijing for Fuzhou, rammed it from behind. Five cars of the second train fell from the bridge and another car hung from it.
Chinese authorities should carry out a thorough investigation to pinpoint the cause of the accident, but they buried the first car and resumed train operations at the scene only 1½ days after the accident, deepening doubts about their sincerity in the investigation. Under criticism, they later dug up the buried coach.