Toll rises in China rail crash

A PASSENGER train hit by landslides derailed yesterday in eastern China, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 70 others, state media reported.

The latest death toll jumped from initial reports of eight killed, as rescuers dug out more bodies from mangled and overturned train carriages, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The train, bound for the tourist destination of Guilin, derailed around 2am in a mountainous area near Fuzhou city in eastern Jiangxi province.