Most passengers injured in the train collision on Monday in east China's Shandong Province were still in hospital and 60 were critical, health authorities said on Wednesday.

Of the 416 people injured, 13 had been discharged, while 385 remained hospitalized in Shandong. Eighteen others were sent to other cities, including Beijing and the provincial capital Jinan, for treatment, said a health department spokesman in Zibo City.

Without elaborating, he said the 60 critical cases all included high paraplegia.

Zhang Shi, a passenger who suffered head and neck injuries and a broken elbow, underwent an operation at the No. 148 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Zibo.

He refused to be photographed. "He hopes our parents won't find out about his injury anytime soon," said his younger brother, who flew in from Shanghai to look after him.

About 300 Zibo citizens voluntarily donated blood. By Tuesday afternoon, more than 30,000 milliliters of donated blood had been delivered to the 23 hospitals where the injured passengers were being treated.

Four French nationals injured in the accident have been sent to Beijing for treatment. They were taken to Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), one of the country's best facilities for treating bone fractures.

The four, including 54-year-old Pascal Boisson, his daughter Joanne, 22, his son Pierre Emmanuel, 14, and his girlfriend Robin Naurence, 42, were traveling to Qingdao from Beijing on board the high-speed train T195. It derailed and crashed into another train in Zibo's Zhoucun District at 4:40 a.m. on Monday.

At least 12 cars from the two trains derailed in the accident and 71 people were confirmed dead.

A preliminary investigation suggested the train from Beijing was running at 131 kilometers per hour at the time of the accident, while the speed limit of that section was 80 kph. It happened just three days before the May Day holiday, when millions of Chinese holiday makers will travel by train.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2008)