SHANGHAI -- A total of 189 people injured in the subway train collision in Shanghai were discharged from the hospital, while another 95 are still receiving medical treatment, according to the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau.
A subway train rear-ended another Tuesday afternoon, leaving 284 injured. Most of the injuries were bruises and bone fractures, but there were also external head traumas, doctors said.
Reports of a passenger pregnant with twins aroused public concern, but doctors said that both the woman and her children are safe.
The ages of the injured ranged from infant to 85. Seven were foreigners, among whom three remain hospitalized.
The crash occurred at about 2:51 p.m. following a signal system failure at a station on the Line 10 subway.
Earlier reports：
SHANGHAI -- A subway train rear-ended another train Tuesday afternoon in Shanghai, injuring more than 270 passengers, including four foreigners.
So far, a total of 271 people have received treatment in hospitals, said Xu Jianguang, director of Shanghai's health bureau, at a press briefing late Tuesday.
Most of the injuries are bruises and bone fractures, but there are also external head traumas, doctors said. An estimated 20 injured people are in critical condition but the injuries are not life-threatening, they said.
Xu said that 180 people have already been discharged from hospital.
The crash occurred at about 2:51 p.m. following a signal system failure at a station on the Line 10 subway, Shanghai Shentong Metro Group Co. said in a statement, adding that about 500 passengers were later evacuated from the trains.
The subway train stopped for about 15 minutes and then continued before stopping again for another ten minutes before crashing into the other train, a young passenger on the train's first carriage said.
The signal system failure at about 2:10 p.m. meant the trains had to be directed via phone by subway staff rather than by electric signals and were thus running at slower speeds, the subway operator's statement said.
The signal system is a product of Casco Signal Ltd., a joint venture of China Railway Signal and Communication Corp. and Alstom, which reportedly supplies signal systems to a number of subways in Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Shenzhen.
Casco was blamed for a subway train crash in Shanghai in 2009.
Casco also provided the centralized traffic control system for a railway in east China's Zhejiang Province, where two bullet trains crashed on July 23, killing 40 people and injuring 177.
Jiang Jianhua, Casco's chief engineer, could not be reached for comment. A staff member at Casco's headquarters declined to confirm with Xinhua if the company had launched an investigation into the accident.
The company's website (www.casco.com.cn) could not be opened late Tuesday afternoon.
Tuesday's crash was the result of the third system failure on Line 10 in the last two months.
Yu Guangyao, president of the Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, said Tuesday at the briefing that Casco promised Shentong that it would fix the signal system after a failure guided a train on Line 10 to run in the opposite direction on July 23.
Five days later, another Line 10 train stalled in the tunnel after a control device broke down.
No casualties or injuries were reported in the two previous accidents.
Shanghai has set up an investigation team. The team, headed by the city's work safety bureau, will include independent experts and investigators from the city's construction and traffic committees and the traffic bureau, said Sun Jianping, head of the traffic bureau, at the news briefing.
According to Sun, Shanghai's Communist Party chief Yu Zhengsheng and Mayor Han Zheng have requested all-out efforts for treating the injured and a safety overhaul for the city's metro system.
They also urged investigators to inform the public about their progress in a timely manner and ensure the investigation's openness and transparency, Sun said.
Photos posted on Weibo, China's popular Twitter-like microblogging service, showed several passengers bleeding, with firefighters entering the train to rescue the injured.
"I was stunned, not knowing what happened. We tried to open doors and windows but couldn't. I felt smoke in the car," a passenger said shortly after being rescued from the train.
"The train braked suddenly...some people fell and some cried, then the automatic alarm sounded," said another passenger surnamed Bian.
Four foreigners, including two from Japan, one from Canada and one from the Philippines, suffered minor injuries during the accident and have received treatment at hospital, according to the municipal health bureau.
As of late Tuesday, Line 10 had resumed operations, limiting speeds to 45 kilometers per hour, said Yu Guangyao. Earlier subway services at nine stations on Line 10 were halted.
However, service on a section of the subway line between the Yili Road Station and the North Sichuan Road Station, which includes 12 stops, will be suspended for safety checks starting Wednesday, according to the press briefing.
It is not known when the section will resume full operation.
The subway operator offered an apology via its verified Weibo account at 8:20 p.m.
"Today is a dark day in the history of Shanghai Metro. We feel deeply sorry for the injuries and losses of the passengers no matter what the investigation results will be," said a brief statement from "shmetro."
Yu Guangyao also bowed and apologized to the wounded passengers and the public at Tuesday night's news briefing.
Backgrounder: Major metro accidents in China
BEIJING -- Two subway trains collided in Shanghai, injuring over 260 passengers Tuesday afternoon.
The following are some subway accidents that have occurred in China over the past four decades.
In 1969, a fire ignited by a short circuit on a subway train in Beijing killed six people and injured over 200 others. It was the first major subway accident in China since its first metro line went into operation that year.
In 2003, a power supply failure delayed metro trains for 62 minutes in Shanghai, disrupting the commutes of tens of thousands of passengers.
In 2005, a subway train carriage in Beijing caught fire during the morning rush hour, but no casualties were reported.
In 2008, hundreds of people on a moving walkway at a Beijing subway station panicked after hearing strange noises from the device. The ensuing stampede injured at least 13 people.
Also in 2008, a power supply failure forced metro trains to stop for 89 minutes in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, disrupting the commutes of tens of thousands of passengers. Some people panicked and fled the train coaches for fear of an earthquake or explosion.
The same year, a subway tunnel that was under construction collapsed in the eastern city of Hangzhou, leaving 21 people dead and 24 others injured.
In May 2009, an unidentified gas leak at a subway construction site in Guangzhou killed three workers and sickened many others.
In December 2009, two trains in the Shanghai subway collided following a breakdown in a power system. No casualties were reported as the trains were moving at low speeds.
In 2010, a subway station that was under construction collapsed in Beijing, killing two workers and injuring eight others.
In July 2011, an ascending escalator inside a metro station in downtown Beijing suddenly reversed, killing a 13-year-old boy and injuring 30 others.
Also in July, a similar escalator accident happened in a subway station in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, injuring two passengers.
From July to August this year, the Shanghai subway experienced a string of accidents, including a tunnel fire, a train gate failure and a signal mistake that caused a train to run in the wrong direction.
