A speeding passenger train en route to a Chinese coastal resort jumped the tracks and slammed into another, killing at least 70 people and injuring hundreds in the worst rail accident in the country in a decade.

Most passengers were asleep as the T195 from Beijing to the 19th-century German concession port of Qingdao approached the small town of Zibo just before dawn yesterday when the train, which was travelling well above the speed limit, left the tracks.

A 38-year-old woman, who was travelling with her 13-year-old daughter, said: “We were still sleeping when the accident occurred. I suddenly woke up when I felt the train stopped with a jolt. In a minute or two it started off again, but soon toppled.”

Both were unhurt and escaped from the train through a huge crack in the floor of their carriage. Hundreds were not so lucky, although officials had yet to say how many people were on board the two trains.

They said that 70 people had been killed, with 420 injured, including about 70 people listed in critical condition. Injured survivors included four French nationals, three members of one family and a friend, a Chinese national sailing coach and a three-year-old boy.

Officials said that the express from Beijing was travelling at about 131 kilometres per hour (80mph), well above the speed limit of 80km/h for such a train, when it dived off the tracks at 4.40am with about ten carriages coming to rest perpendicular to the track.

A regional train on the line then ploughed into the wreck of the express, which was crowded with holidaymakers en route to the popular eastern seaside resort for the May 1 Labour Day holiday weekend.

Investigators blamed the crash on human error. Within hours, state media announced that the top government and Communist Party railway officials in the Shandong province capital had been dismissed.

One passenger recalled the incident: “I suddenly felt the train, like a roller-coaster, topple . . . to one side and all the way to the other side. When it finally went off the tracks, many people fell on me.” She said that local villagers used farm tools to smash train windows to pull out trapped passengers. “I saw a girl who was trying to help her boyfriend out of the train, but he was dead.”

A coach of China’s sailing team, Hu Weidong, was seriously injured. He had been traveling to Qingdao, site of the summer Olympic sailing events. State television said that both his legs may need to be amputated. One doctor said: “There were grave injuries to his neck and spine, which we fear could cause paralysis.”

The rail line was built in 1897, state television said. and was due to be retired in favour of a high-speed link to be ready in time for the Summer Olympics.

In January, also in Shandong province, a high-speed train ran through a group of maintenance workers, killing 18. China has invested about $100 billion (£50 billion) in its railways in the past few years and is expanding the system to accommodate what is the world’s most dense passenger and freight network.

The newsagency Xinhua reported that more than 700 medical staff and 130 ambulances were involved in rescue efforts, while the injured were being treated in 19 hospitals. Survivors were frantically using mobile phones to contact relatives.

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