Train strikes, kills 9 workers on track in northwest China

BEIJING (AP) — A cross-country passenger train hit and killed nine rail construction workers on its track in northwest China early Friday, state media said.

The victims were among more than 50 workers repairing a closed section of track, state broadcaster CCTV said on its news app. It wasn’t clear why they were on the other track, which was open at the time and runs in the opposite direction.

It happened at 5:18 a.m. as the train negotiated a curve in the city of Jinchang in Gansu province about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) west of Beijing.

The train was heading from Urumqi, the capital of the far-west Xinjiang region, to the eastern city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, a journey that takes nearly 56 hours.