A train is derailed after crashing with another one in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province July 23, 2011. At least 33 people were killed and 190 others were injured in the accident. [Photo/Xinhua]

A woman surnamed Zhou in Lucheng District People's Hospital in Wenzhou said she was in the 11th coach on train D3115. She and her whole family, four adults and two children, got on the train from Hangzhou.

"At around 8 pm at the Yongjia station, the train was supposed to stop for one minute, but actually stayed for 25 minutes," Zhou told Xinhua.

"After it moved, we heard a 'bang' and it felt like an earthquake. I immediately held my five-year-old kid to my arms," she said.

Zhou got a bruise in her arms and her kid was injured on the head. Luckily, all of her family members survived.

Gu Xianwei, a native from Guizhou Province, said he was driving by when the accident occurred. "Hearing a huge bang, I saw two trains crashed."

Gu rushed to the scene later and rescued many people out of the coaches with other rescuers.

Liu Hongtao, a host with Voice of Strait, a radio in Fuzhou, was on board the 4th coach of D301 when the collision occurred.

"The train suddenly shook violently, casting luggage all around," he said while being interviewed by China Central Television (CCTV) at 11 pm "Passengers cried for help but no crew responded."

A passenger failed to smash the window with a fire extinguisher but managed to open a crack. Other passengers rushed to crawl out of the train through the crack, he added.

"One coach perched like a chimney and another was broken in half," Chen Yujie, a host with Zhejiang traffic radio, who was at the scene, described the accident to CCTV.

Both Liu and Chen said they constantly saw lightning.

A crashed bullet train is seen in this picture taken in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, July 23, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

Constant rescue

Zhao Yide, mayor of the Wenzhou City, said there were more than 1,400 passengers on the two trains, and the uninjured had been transported by buses.

"Searches are underway and we won't allow a single sign of life to slip away," said Zhao.

Two coaches fallen onto the ground were overlapping off the viaduct, which needed cranes and cutting machines for the rescue, Xinhua reporters at the scene said.

Zhejiang provincial department of health organized four medical teams heading to the scene, which comprised medical staff from the Zhejiang No.1 Hospital, Zhejiang No.2 Hospital, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital and Taizhou Hospital.

The department also required hospital staff near the site to rush to the scene for rescue work.

The blood center of Zhejiang Province is "fully prepared to guarantee rescue blood." The center was reported to have transported blood to Wenzhou from Lishui and Taizhou cities, according to the FM93.0 radio of Zhejiang.

The radio said hospital blood was in tight supply and called on Wenzhou residents to donate blood to the city's blood center.

More than 200 residents arrived at the Wenzhou blood center Saturday night. Pictures on weibo.com showed that the long queue included teenagers and young people in their twenties. They waited silently in the night for blood donation.

Right after the accident, Minister of Railways Sheng Guangzu rushed to the ministry's control and command center in Beijing to guide the rescue. The latest news was that Sheng was heading for the accident scene.

Sheng called for immediate and the greatest efforts from the rescue teams to save the injured passengers, and he required an in-depth investigation in the accident.

Hu Yadong and Lu Chunfang, deputy ministers of railways, were also hurriedly going to the scene for rescue work.

At midnight Saturday, the ministry ordered an urgent overhaul of railway and train safety nationwide.

Lu Zushan, governor of Zhejiang Province, arrived at the scene early Sunday morning.

Rescue workers transport an injured woman to a local hospital after a bullet train crash in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, July 23, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]