Families mourn victims of deadly train collision
Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily |
July 30, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
RELATIVES and family members laid flowers yesterday at the site of the bullet train crash in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, to mourn those who lost their lives to China's most serious rail accident since 2008.
About two dozen family members gathered at the crash site in pouring rain on the seventh day since the death of their relatives, as Chinese tradition dictates.
Anguish overwhelmed the relatives of the dead as they placed flowers, lit candles and burned spirit "money" at the site. A scrap of metal salvaged from one of the crushed train carriages was laid nearby.
They took turns kneeling and whispering messages to their lost loved ones. Some stood silently, others sobbed or wailed uncontrollably. One woman almost passed out as she murmured words to a family member she would see no more.
Others gathered to remember their loved ones at a Wenzhou morgue.
While many said they were satisfied with the concern the central government was giving to the crash, they urged authorities to punish those responsible for the disaster.
A weeping Liu Canlan said her husband, Chen Wei, last spoke to her by phone from the train, promising to be home in time for dinner.
"I kept calling out to him but there was no response. He just left us, a wife and son, like this," said Liu. "How could this happen? How can this high-speed train be so lousy? It's just like a tiger that eats people up," she said, her voice choking with emotion.
In another part of the morgue, a mother who lost her teenage son fainted after cremation rites had finished. She had to be carried out by relatives.
Zhang Meilan, who lost her niece, said they had not been told how much compensation the family would be getting but yesterday they had been told to sign an agreement by the end of the day. "Everything that the government officials told us has been very good and of course we thank them very much. But the main thing for us is the response from the railways department and how they will help the families of the victims deal with this problem," Zhang said.
While mourners performed solemn rituals at the site of the accident as high-speed trains roared past on the bridge overhead, people throughout the country paid their respects.
Online, users posted millions of messages, many questioning official explanations and circulating amateur photographs and videos of the crash site.
"Let the dead rest in peace; there are no high-speed trains in the heavens," said the official Weibo account of the Zhengzhou Evening News.
Another blogger, Huang Lilu, editor-in-chief of China Entrepreneur magazine, suggested the government establish a day of mourning for major accidents beginning with this one to not only showcase regrets and respect for the deceased, but also to remind the people responsible for the accident of their shame.
Many posters said that to continue to ask for the truth about the accident was the best way to mourn the dead.
China Central Television's website said that what the victims' families needed was not money but answers to their questions.
On Thursday night, more than 1,000 Wenzhou residents gathered at the city's Century Square in mourning. They used candles to form the date of the accident, "July 23," and the Chinese characters that read "Want the truth."
The train collision has left 40 people dead and 191 others injured. The families of the victims have repeatedly urged the government to release more information about the cause of the accident and details of the rescue efforts that followed it.
Premier Wen Jiabao promised a thorough, open and transparent investigation when he talked to reporters at the crash site on Thursday.
He urged the Ministry of Railways to give an "honest answer" to the people who had questioned its actions in the aftermath of the disaster.
Zheng Qingbi, whose son, Zheng Hangzheng, died in the accident, said Wen's comment was appreciated, but that "it was the Ministry of Railways that caused this accident."
"The minister is supposed to come to us and apologize, to comfort us. This is such a basic moral principle as a human," Zheng said.
About two dozen family members gathered at the crash site in pouring rain on the seventh day since the death of their relatives, as Chinese tradition dictates.
Anguish overwhelmed the relatives of the dead as they placed flowers, lit candles and burned spirit "money" at the site. A scrap of metal salvaged from one of the crushed train carriages was laid nearby.
They took turns kneeling and whispering messages to their lost loved ones. Some stood silently, others sobbed or wailed uncontrollably. One woman almost passed out as she murmured words to a family member she would see no more.
Others gathered to remember their loved ones at a Wenzhou morgue.
While many said they were satisfied with the concern the central government was giving to the crash, they urged authorities to punish those responsible for the disaster.
A weeping Liu Canlan said her husband, Chen Wei, last spoke to her by phone from the train, promising to be home in time for dinner.
"I kept calling out to him but there was no response. He just left us, a wife and son, like this," said Liu. "How could this happen? How can this high-speed train be so lousy? It's just like a tiger that eats people up," she said, her voice choking with emotion.
In another part of the morgue, a mother who lost her teenage son fainted after cremation rites had finished. She had to be carried out by relatives.
Zhang Meilan, who lost her niece, said they had not been told how much compensation the family would be getting but yesterday they had been told to sign an agreement by the end of the day. "Everything that the government officials told us has been very good and of course we thank them very much. But the main thing for us is the response from the railways department and how they will help the families of the victims deal with this problem," Zhang said.
While mourners performed solemn rituals at the site of the accident as high-speed trains roared past on the bridge overhead, people throughout the country paid their respects.
Online, users posted millions of messages, many questioning official explanations and circulating amateur photographs and videos of the crash site.
"Let the dead rest in peace; there are no high-speed trains in the heavens," said the official Weibo account of the Zhengzhou Evening News.
Another blogger, Huang Lilu, editor-in-chief of China Entrepreneur magazine, suggested the government establish a day of mourning for major accidents beginning with this one to not only showcase regrets and respect for the deceased, but also to remind the people responsible for the accident of their shame.
Many posters said that to continue to ask for the truth about the accident was the best way to mourn the dead.
China Central Television's website said that what the victims' families needed was not money but answers to their questions.
On Thursday night, more than 1,000 Wenzhou residents gathered at the city's Century Square in mourning. They used candles to form the date of the accident, "July 23," and the Chinese characters that read "Want the truth."
The train collision has left 40 people dead and 191 others injured. The families of the victims have repeatedly urged the government to release more information about the cause of the accident and details of the rescue efforts that followed it.
Premier Wen Jiabao promised a thorough, open and transparent investigation when he talked to reporters at the crash site on Thursday.
He urged the Ministry of Railways to give an "honest answer" to the people who had questioned its actions in the aftermath of the disaster.
Zheng Qingbi, whose son, Zheng Hangzheng, died in the accident, said Wen's comment was appreciated, but that "it was the Ministry of Railways that caused this accident."
"The minister is supposed to come to us and apologize, to comfort us. This is such a basic moral principle as a human," Zheng said.
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