Top: Family members of victims of the Wenzhou train accident light incense and paper offerings to commemorate their deceased loved ones at the crash site on Friday. Below: Burning candles are placed on Friday around flowers at the site of the accident. Li Zhenyu / for China Daily

WENZHOU, Zhejiang - Mourners gathered at the site of the deadly Wenzhou train crash to remember their deceased loved ones while the government doubled the amount of compensation it is offering to relatives of the victims.

Those who came placed bouquets of white and yellow chrysanthemums at the site and lit candles, incense and spirit "money". A scrap of metal salvaged from one of the crushed train carriages was laid down nearby as a memorial to the dead.

The mourners took turns kneeling and whispering messages to their deceased loved ones. Some stood silently, while others sobbed or wailed. All declined to speak to reporters.

Saturday's train collision near Wenzhou, a city in Zhejiang province, has left at least 40 people dead and 191 others injured.

For those killed in the crash, Friday marked the first of what is known in China as a "seventh day". In observance of a traditional mourning ritual, the Chinese often pay homage to deceased loved ones seven days after they had died and at the end of every seven-day interval after that for a period of seven weeks. Traditional beliefs hold that the deceased return home on the seventh day after their deaths to bid farewell to their families.

On Friday, a woman with short hair and glasses nearly passed out while she whispered to her deceased relatives.

All the while high-speed trains roared past on a bridge over her head, and people throughout the country came together to pay their respects to the crash victims. Buddhist temples in Zhejiang, Shanghai, Hubei and Hebei held prayer meetings and chanted incantations meant to prevent the souls of the dead from suffering.

On China's popular Twitter-like micro-blogging site, Sina Weibo, nearly 80,000 messages had been posted by 3 pm on Friday to express regret for the deceased and to confer blessings on their families.

"Let the dead rest in peace; there are no high-speed trains in heaven," said the official Weibo account of the Zhengzhou Evening News. The post was forwarded more than 3,000 times.

Another blogger, Huang Lilu, editor-in-chief of the China Entrepreneur magazine, said government officials should establish a day of mourning to show respect for the victims of large accidents. He said they can start with the crash in Wenzhou, which would not only let them show regret for the disaster but also remind those who were responsible for it of their shame.

On Thursday night, more than 1,000 Wenzhou residents gathered at the city's Century Square to mourn the victims of the train crash. They used candles to form a giant "July 23" - the date of the accident.

Relatives of the victims, as well as the greater public, have repeatedly called on the government to release more information about the cause of the accident and about the rescue work that followed it.

Premier Wen Jiabao promised a thorough, open and transparent probe into the accident when he met reporters at the crash site on Thursday.

He urged the Ministry of Railways, which has been the subject of much criticism, to give an "honest answer" to questions about the hasty way in which the wreckage from the two trains was cleaned up.

Meanwhile, the government has nearly doubled the amount of compensation to be paid to relatives of the crash victims, bringing it from 500,000 yuan ($77,675) for each deceased people to 915,000 yuan for each.

Officials charged with responding to the disaster said their purpose in increasing the compensation amount was to stick to the principle of "putting people first".

The payments are to compensate families for their relatives' deaths, pay funeral expenses, compensate the families for the emotional distress caused by the crash and to help cover expenses stemming from the victims' children, according to related authorities.

The new compensation amount will also be given to the families who have already agreed to accept the former amount. The money is to come from the Ministry of Railways.

Officials said that if the victims' families have future difficulties, local governments should make every effort to help them. They said they are also looking to offer compensation to those who were injured in the accident.

Xinhua contributed to this story.