BEIJING, China: In a harrowing incident, two subway trains collided amidst heavy snowfall in Beijing, leading to 515 individuals being hospitalized, with 102 sustaining broken bones, according to authorities.
The collision occurred on the evening of December 14 along Beijing’s mountainous western region on an elevated section of the extensive Changping subway line.
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Slippery tracks triggered automatic braking on the first train, while the second train, descending behind it, skidded and could not brake in time, stated the city’s transportation authority on its social media account.
The bitter temperatures also hampered rescue efforts after a deadly earthquake this month in northwest Gansu province.
The unusually heavy snowfall, which commenced on December 13, led to the suspension of some train services and the closure of schools.
Alerts remain in effect for icy roads, extreme cold, and the possibility of further snowfall. Overnight temperatures were expected to plummet to minus 11 degrees Celsius (12 degrees Fahrenheit).
Fortunately, no fatalities have been reported thus far due to the winter storms that have swept across a broad expanse of northern China. While Beijing experiences bitterly cold winters, heavy snowfall is a rare occurrence.
Beijing has recorded its longest cold wave since records began in 1951. The temperature recorded at Beijing’s Nanjiao weather station rose to above zero degrees Celsius on Sunday afternoon for the first time in days, state media Beijing Daily reported.
According to Beijing Daily, since temperature first dropped to below zero degrees on December 11, the temperature has remained below that line for more than 300 hours.
A strong cold wave swept through most of China this month, pushing the heating capacity of some cities in northern China to its limit. China’s central province of Henan has seen multiple system interruptions.
In Jiaozuo, heating was partially halted after a malfunction at the Wanfang power plant on Friday. The cold weather in the capital Beijing began days ago and has caused issues with the city’s metro system.
The city’s transportation authority said that hundreds of commuters, dozens of them with fractured bones, were sent to the hospital in Beijing earlier this month after two trains collided on a busy metro line during snowy conditions.
China News Network / ABC Flash Point News 2023.
Winter weather everywhere on this planet, if cold is not an option, do not visit Russia for that matter?