BEIJING -- About 245 people were injured when a subway train crashed into the back of another in Shanghai after a signal system failed today, the subway operator and state media reported.
The signal system failed 30 minutes before the collision at the Lao Ximen station on the city's number 10 subway line, Shanghai Metro said on its website.
Subway managers decided to control the trains "over the phone by subway staff rather than by electric signals and run [the trains] at slower speeds," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the operator as saying.
Ten hospitals treated 245 people for head injuries, bone fractures and bruising, but none of the injured were in critical condition, the agency quoted medical staff as saying.
About 500 people were travelling on the two trains when they crashed around 2:40 pm (0640 GMT), Shanghai Metro said.
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Photographs posted on Chinese microblogging sites showed several passengers bleeding from injuries sustained in the crash.
Shanghai Metro said all the injuries were minor.
Firefighters, emergency medical teams and safety inspectors rushed to the scene of the accident.
Services were suspended at nine stations on the same line after the accident, reports said.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
