President Xi Jinping called for “all-out” emergency response efforts as a cold wave froze most of China on Friday, affecting transport and sending hundreds to hospital after a train crash in Beijing. 

Two subway trains collided in heavy snow in the Chinese capital, sending 515 people to the hospital, including 102 with broken bones, authorities said. 

The accident occurred Thursday evening in Beijing’s mountainous west on an above-ground portion of the sprawling subway system’s Changping line. 

The city’s transport authority said in a statement on Friday that a train carriage failed to brake while moving downhill, colliding with another car that had stopped because of slippery track conditions.

All passengers were evacuated by about 11pm after emergency medical personnel, police and transport authorities responded, it said. 

Twenty-five passengers were under observation and 67 remained hospitalised Friday morning, the authority said. 

Unusually heavy snow that began falling Wednesday has prompted the suspension of some train operations and school closures. 

Alerts remain in place for icy roads, extreme cold and further snowfall, with temperatures as low as minus 11 degrees Celsius expected overnight.

Cold wave sweeps most of China

Temperatures were expected to drop below minus 40 degrees Celsius in parts of the north-eastern province of Heilongjiang and in the region of Xinjiang in the north-west, along with Inner Mongolia and the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai, according to forecasts by China’s National Meteorological Centre. 

President Xi, who went to the southern Guangxi region on Thursday and Friday, said heavy rain and snow in many parts of the country had affected power supplies, transport and people’s lives, the official Xinhua news agency reported. 

Xinhua reported that President Xi told local governments to refine their precautionary measures and improve their contingency plans.

The cold wave that began the start of this week was moving through the country from north to south and was expected to take temperatures lower into the weekend, although rain and snow will decrease, the Meteorological Centre said. 

In several provinces, authorities implemented temporary traffic measures due to snowfall and icy roads, with some suspending train or ferry services. 

Some regions have also taken measures to secure vegetable and fruit harvests from freeze damage and diseases, state media said. 

China lifted its warning for blizzards before dawn on Friday but said heavy snowfall was forecast in parts of Liaoning and Jilin provinces in the north-east as well as in Shandong. 

Next week, cold air will continue to flow across the country from north to south, keeping temperatures low in central and eastern regions. 

AP/Reuters