China’s worst rail accident in a decade kills 11 workers under test train in Kunming

At least 11 maintenance workers were killed and two others injured on Thursday when a test train ran over a track team in Kunming, a major city in China’s southwestern Yunnan Province. State-run media outlet Xinhua reported that authorities have identified it as the country’s deadliest railway accident in more than a decade.

Officials said the workers were carrying out routine maintenance when the test train moved through the section unexpectedly, leaving little time to react. Emergency responders reached the site shortly after the incident, and the two injured workers were taken to a nearby hospital.

Local authorities have launched an investigation to determine how the test train entered the maintenance zone and whether safety protocols were breached. Railway operations in the affected section have been temporarily halted as officials examine the cause of the tragedy.