6 dead as train derails in Central China

Rescuers have recovered the bodies of 6 people in central China after a cargo train carrying aluminium ore hurtled off the tracks and crushed a house, local authorities said on Friday, April 12.

At around 10:00 pm on Wednesday, April 10, the 25-car train derailed from an escape siding and overturned, hitting a house in Gongyi, Henan province.

Search and rescue operations concluded early Friday morning after the bodies of 4 crew members and two villagers were found.

Rescue efforts were difficult as the crew accommodation car and the first 14 wagons overturned and lay on top of each other, and were heaped together with a large quantity of aluminium ore, the Gongyi government said.

The freight train carrying Bauxite was owned by China's largest State-owned aluminum producer Aluminum Corp of China.

According to a government statement issued on Thursday, the train has 25 wagons with a total weight of 2,350 tonnes.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the accident.