Human error may have been the cause of what is thought to be one of China’s worst-ever rail accidents, state media reported. At least 70 people were killed in the collision between two passenger trains, and more than 400 were injured. Terrorism has been ruled out as a cause of the accident. Investigators were cited as saying that the T195 train en route from Beijing to the eastern city of Qingdao was traveling at 131 kilometers per hour when it collided with another passenger train in the suburb of Zibo, despite a speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour. Beijing immediately dispatched two high-ranking officials to the scene of the accident. Two officials from the Jinan railway bureau were also dismissed from their posts.
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