Digging out a train

Chutian Metropolis Daily
January 5, 2010

Since Saturday, heavy snow has fallen over northern China. Today, like several other regional papers, the Chutian Metropolis Daily reported on the excavation effort of Train #1814:

Heading from Harbin to the city of Baotou, it got stuck near the village of Dadonggou (大东沟村) and the city of Ulanqab (in Inner Mongolia). Due to the heavily falling snow, and the train was situated on low-lying land, 15 cars of the train were buried by snow, trapping over 1,400 passengers.

After receiving calls for help, police and firefighters in the city of Wulanchabu and Shangdu county left for the scene quickly, digging up ice and snow and giving emergency aid. Yesterday evening, at 8:30pm, Train #1814 started its journey once more － heading towards Baotou with its passengers.

For Beijing, The Beijing News has two disturbing headlines on the front page:

• Drunk man kills friend and his friend’s family in Daxing district; and

• Beijing announces 10 most serious and 10 least serious areas of theft by breaking and entering:

Chaoyangmen in Dongcheng district, Fengsheng in Xicheng district, Moshikou in Shijingshan etc have the least cases of theft in 2009; all under 8 cases; Fanjiacun in Fengtai district, Shibalidian in Chaoyang district, Tiancun in Haidian district has seen cases of theft rise.

Out of all 10 areas with the least levels of theft, Dongcheng districts claims 6.