China's worst rail tragedy in a decade: Test train mows down 11 railway workers, injures 2 in Kunming

Eleven people were killed and two others injured after a test train hit a group of maintenance workers on the track early on Thursday in China's southwestern city of Kunming, media reports said.

The train, conducting tests involving seismic equipment, struck the workers as it negotiated a curved section of the track.

The accident took place at the Luoyangzhen station in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, according to the China Railway Kunming Group Co.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, and the railway station has resumed operations, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. Authorities have reportedly identified it as the country’s deadliest railway accident in more than a decade.

Following the accident, the railway authorities immediately triggered their emergency response protocols. Xinhua said that they have been collaborating with the local government to coordinate rescue efforts and provide medical treatment for the injured persons.

China operates one of the world's largest rail networks, and while fatal incidents have become considerably less frequent over recent decades, the country has still experienced several serious rail accidents in recent years.

Previous incidents include:

• In 2022, a train derailed near Rongjiang county in Guizhou province after hitting debris from a landslide, resulting in the death of a conductor and injuries to eight other people, according to state media.
• State media also reported that a derailment in Chenzhou, in the central province of Hunan, in 2020 left one person dead and 127 injured.
• China's most recent rail catastrophe involving mass fatalities took place in 2011, when a high-speed train collided with a stationary locomotive in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, killing 40 people and leaving nearly 200 injured.

• Prior to that, around 66 people were killed when two passenger trains collided near Zibo, in eastern China’s Shandong province, in 2008.

Several people injured in Slovakian train collision

Several people were injured in a train collision on 9 November in Slovakia, reported news agency Associated Press.

The incident occurred near the town of Pezinok, north of the capital, Bratislava, when an express train struck the rear of a passenger train.

As many as 79 passengers out of approximately 800 people travelling on the trains were taken to hospitals. The majority sustained only minor injuries.

Slovakian Health Minister Kamil Sasko said on 10 November that 13 people were still hospitalised, though none were in a life-threatening condition.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico suggested that the collision was likely caused by human error. He went on to reject the resignation of Transport Minister Jozef Raz, stating that he would not accept it following the second such incident in a month.

The previous accident took place on 13 October, when two fast trains collided in eastern Slovakia, leaving dozens of passengers injured.