I have no idea why anyone doubts what the Chinese government has to say about ... anything.
I know that in the West, we are always having plane and train accidents, and we begin investigations simultaneously with destruction of the evidence. I remember TWA Flight 800. July 1996. Plane crashed and immediately the FTSB and FBI and all the governments involved began to destroy all the evidence. Well, ok, they wanted to but the evidence was collected in a methodical and painstaking manner, and for four years they held hearings, investigations, and studies to consider all possible ... ok, so this was an exception, we must do what the Chinese do ... have an accident and within an hour bury the evidence. Thats just who we are isn't it.
2011-07-25
A viral video posted to the Internet was viewed over 1.2 million times before it was shut down. In the video, bodies are seen to fall from a carriage (passenger car) of the bullet train. The damaged carriage was part of a two-train collision on Saturday resulting in approximately 250 casualties.
YouTube and the Internet at large has become a platform for videos of various subjects to be disseminated throughout the world, even videos from areas of the world where there are tight controls over what is permitted from within a nation's borders. One such video, footage of the aftermath of the recent bullet train crash in China, was posted shortly after the collision. And as horrific as the images in the video appear, there is a possibility that they point to something even more disturbing, like a government cover-up.
The video hit the Internet and, although it was only available for viewing for less than a day, it received over 1.2 million views, according to The Telegraph.
The uncensored footage, as described by the British paper, showed what appeared to be bodies falling from damaged carriages (passenger cars). The trains collided on an elevated track in Wenzhou, a city in Zhejiang province, on Saturday after a lightning strike stalled one train and a second crashed into the rear of the immobile vehicle.
The Telegraph reported that at least 43 people died in the crash, while another 210 suffered injuries, although the Wall Street Journal reported that a U. S. Embassy spokesman put the number of dead at 39, the number of injured at 192.
The footage shows one body fall from a height of about 60 feet as a crane attempted to remove the car from the rails, according to the report. What sounds like a scream can be heard in the background. A second body appears to fall from a window as a mechanical earth mover pushes the passenger car into a ditch.
Locals question the veracity of government claims that state that an investigation into the matter has been launched. Some ask how an effective investigation can be conducted if evidence of the crash is being buried. The viral video, which is no longer available (removed ostensibly for containing offensive material), seems to support the contention, not to mention displaying a certain callousness on the part of the government in its haste to put the bullet train crash in the past.
In answer to public concerns, Railways Ministry spokesman Wang Yongping, who also apologized to the families of the deceased and of the injured passengers on Sunday, stated that he had learned on-site that "wreckage manipulation" was necessary because of a muddy pool that was hampering rescue efforts.
Still, uneasiness persists. Chinese journalists report that the government sent out directives to media outlets suggesting how the train crash should be handled. A journalist at one television station, reported the Journal, said they were told to focus on rescue efforts and steer clear of stories about the accident, its causes, and government investigative measures.
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