At least three passengers have been killed and more than 30 injured after the train they were traveling in was derailed by hurricane force winds in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region early Wednesday, rescuers said.

According to the Urumqi Railway Bureau, 11 carriages of Train No. 5806 were derailed by winds gusting up to 144 km at around 2:00 AM, soon after it left Turpan, about 120 km from Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang. The train was on its way to Aksu, in southern Xinjiang.

"Winds measured force 13, as powerful as a hurricane, and the temperature was minus 10 Celsius," said the railway bureau.

"Sand and dust cracked the window panes soon after the train left Turpan, and blew some of the cars off the tracks as we were trying to plug up the windows," recalled passenger Su Chuanyi, a local TV journalist.

"The first rescue team, consisting of over 100 people, including doctors and police officers, arrived at 4:30 AM," Su said. Nearly a thousand rescuers have since been called to the scene, reports the local railway bureau.

Han Jianwai, one of the train's attendants, was rescued from the train at 10:00 AM after rescuers used a blowtorch to free his trapped leg from underneath the railway car, said witnesses.

The railway, which was blocked for 11 hours, is now back in operation and 1,100 passengers of the derailed train have reached their destinations. A task force from the Ministry of Railways is heading for the scene to assess the damage.

Wednesday is the tenth day Chinese Lunar New Year and many of the passengers were returning home after visiting family members and friends over the holiday. The Urumqi Railway Bureau earlier predicted it would handle 1.397 million local passengers during Spring Festival.

Winds were so heavy, rescuers had to wait for them to subside before attempting any recovery operations.

"The wind was too strong to stand against. My face and hands were scratched by the sand and small stones. Sand filled my mouth whenever I took a breath," said a local rescuer named Zhang Xiaoli.

Wind, cold, and snow hit Xinjiang two days ago, according to the regional meteorological station. The area surrounding this stretch of railway is well known for strong winds and is near a wind farm.

In April last year the windows of a train from Urumpi to Beijing were cracked by a sand storm and the train was delayed 32 hours near where Wednesday's accident occurred. Eleven train cars were derailed by strong winds in April 2001 in the same section. No one was killed in that accident.

In 2003, the Ministry of Railways and Urumqi Railway Bureau built a three-meter-tall wall along the main rail line to protect trains from strong winds. The project cost 1.3 billion yuan (about US$168 million).

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2007)