Funeral for rescued girl's parents

The funeral service for the parents of a young girl pulled alive from wreckage 21 hours after the devastating train crash in Wenzhou on July 23 will be held today.

The survival of 2 1/2-year-old Xiang Weiyi, known as Yiyi by her family, was deemed a 'miracle' by the Ministry of Railways. The search-and-rescue effort had already been called off when she was found.

The girl is in stable condition at the Yuying Children's Hospital in Wenzhou. Doctors said earlier this week that her left leg, which was crushed under an air-conditioning unit, would not now need to be amputated, as was originally feared.

An obituary sent under the child's name to local media yesterday read: 'My deceased father, Xiang Yuan, and mother, Shi Lihong, were staff members at the Wenzhou Ouhai district's education bureau and the Wenzhou Vocational College of Science and Technology, respectively. They were unfortunately killed in an accident. Their funeral service will be held at 7am on Thursday at the Wenzhou Funeral Centre.'

Yiyi's story has been followed by millions of mainlanders since the accident, in which a high-speed train ploughed into another that was slow-moving or stalled on a viaduct, resulting in 40 deaths.

Many internet users have since signed up to Yiyi's mother's now-inactive mircroblog, Yiyi's Growing Log. It now has 100,000 followers. Her father's blog, about his work as a middle-school teacher, has attracted 7,000 followers.