15 Injured in China Train Derailment

A total of 15 people were hospitalized after a train derailed in northeast China early Sunday, officials said.

The railway bureau in Heilongjiang province’s regional capital of Harbin said on its official microblog that the cause of the pre-dawn accident was under investigation.

It said bureau officials responded to the accident, accompanied by police and fire and rescue services.

China has one of the world’s most extensive networks of railways, but accidents are extremely rare.

The Harbin railway bureau said the train was an older model, rather than one of the high-speed trains that have been brought into service in recent years.

China’s most serious recent railway disaster involved a pair of high-speed trains that collided near the eastern city of Wenzhou in 2011, killing 40 people.