Massive explosion in Kota Kinabalu as passenger train with 200 passengers rammed into an oil tanker, 12 injured

Pictures source : The Star and Facebook.




This is not the actual accident in Sabah on 31st October 2011, but just to demonstrate the impact of a massive train hitting a truck.



The aftermath of the train versus oil tanker in Kepayan, Sabah on 31st October 2011, recorded by passersby.



Another visual of the train vs oil tanker, recorded by passersby.

KOTA KINABALU, 31st October 2011 :

A huge explosion ripped through a commuter train with 200 passengers after it collided with a fuel tanker at an ``unmanned'' railway crossing near a petrol station in Kepayan, near Kota Kinabalu. At least 12 people were seriously injured.

The worst accident in the history of the Sabah Railway Department happened at around 5.40 pm.

Most passengers scrambled out from the rear driver's compartments as they fled the inferno that spread almost immediately following the impact between the four carriages and the Shell tanker.

But 34 of the 200 passengers could not be traced though police have ascertained, as of 7.45pm, that no one else was inside the wrecked carriages.

However, a detailed search is being carried by police, firemen and Sabah Railway staff.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said the train impacted the tank section of the lorry carrying some 27,000 litres of petrol as it was heading into the Shell station to deliver the fuel.

Upon impact, the first carriage derailed while the second unit landed atop the tanker that exploded at the crossing which Sabah Railways director Mohd Zin Mohd Said had classified as ``illegal.''

Hamza said at 7.45pm that there were no deaths ``as yet'' and they have detained the driver of the (stupid and foolish) oil tanker for questioning while the train driver Ali Ramli, 50, escaped injuries.

Ambulances carrying the injured to the hospital were trapped in a massive traffic snarl due to motorists slowing down or stopping indiscriminately to watch the accident and the situation was further aggravated by a heavy thunderstorm.

The colonial railway is the only commercial rail line in Borneo Island that operates services from Kota Kinabalu to west coast towns and interior Tenom.

``This is the worst mishap in our history,'' said Mohd Zin.

To me, the stupid oil tanker driver should be burnt alive for his carelessness while crossing the railway, could not be tolerated.

The oil tanker driver was blind and cared only for himself and did not give a damn on others' lives!!

Just shoot and burn that stupid guy, he is a nuisance in this planet!!!

Miracle baby in China who survives the worst train crash in China

A Miracle has happened in China.

A toddler was found alive in the rubbles of China worst train crash in recent times.

The toddler was rescued about 21 hours after the crash involving two high-speed trains in eastern China that killed at least 35 people including 2 foreign nationals and injured more than 200 others.



Xinhua News Agency said the unconscious child was found early Sunday evening, 24th July 2011 while rescuers were clearing one of the train cars just as the cleanup efforts were almost completed.

China Central Television first reported that the toddler was a boy, but later said a 4-year-old girl.

However, it is not immediately known wether the parents of the toddler were among the passengers of the ill-fated train.



The crash happened on Satuday evening, 23rd July 2011 when a bullet train traveling south from the Zhejiang provincial capital of Hangzhou to Wenzhou city, suddenly lost power after being struck by lightning.

The train then stopped in the track and shortly after was hit from behind by another bullet train.

The first four cars of the moving train fell about 65 to 100 feet (20 to 30 meters) off the viaduct onto the ground below.

One carriage ended up in a vertical position, leaning against the viaduct.

State broadcaster CCTV said there were more than 900 passengers on the train that stalled, and more than 500 passengers on the train that hit it.

As a result of this crash, 3 high-ranking railway officials were fired and would be subject to investigation and prosecution.

They were Long Jing, head of the Shanghai Railway Bureau; Li Jia, head of the Shanghai railway bureau's committee of the Communist Party of China; and deputy chief of the bureau, He Shengli.

It was the first derailment on China's high-speed rail network since the country launched bullet trains with a top speed of 155 miles (250 kilometers) per hour in 2007.

It was also China's worst train accident since April 2008, when a train traveling from Beijing to the eastern coastal city of Qingdao derailed and crashed into another train, leaving 72 dead and another 416 injured.

This latest incident unravelled yet another mistakes, flaws and weaknesses in China's huge transportation system. Why no signals or communications were relayed to the second train to warn about the danger ahead. Were there any steps taken to avoid the deadly collision?

If the first train communications system malfunctioned as a result of the loss of power, then why not just use mobile phones to notify the Train Station Headquarters about the grave and dangerous situation so that the second train will stop in time before hitting the stalled train?

If this crash happend, then it is possible that the same incidents could happen in China in the future.