4 killed, 2 missing after Chinese freight train derails, ploughs into house
- Search continues for two people trapped in wreckage after train carrying aluminium ore runs off track on Wednesday night
- Victims identified only as four members of train’s crew and two members of the public
At least four people were killed in central China on Wednesday night when a freight train carrying aluminium ore derailed and crashed into a house, local authorities said.
Two people were still missing after the incident, which happened about 10pm in an area of Gongyi, Henan province, the city government said on Thursday.
The 25-wagon train, with a total weight of 2,350 tonnes, was travelling along a 22km (14-mile) line built specifically to transport aluminium across the city.
While the exact cause of the derailment is unknown, the authorities said on Weibo – China’s Twitter-like platform – that the train, owned by a subsidiary of Aluminium Corporation of China, lost control as it was travelling on a downhill section of the line.
The train’s locomotive and first 13 wagons left the track and ploughed into a house, trapping four members of its crew and two members of the public, the report said.