BEIJING - Premier Wen Jiabao of China vowed yesterday to punish any corrupt person found responsible for a high-speed train crash that killed at least 39 people and triggered public anger over its handling.
Wen, speaking in a rare public news conference at the site of Saturday’s crash between two bullet trains, said a “serious investigation’’ was underway and that results would be made public. The crash also injured 190 people.
“No matter if it was a mechanical fault, a management problem, or a manufacturing problem, we must get to the bottom of this,’’ Wen said while answering questions from reporters under the viaduct from which four train cars plunged after the crash.
“If corruption was found behind this, we must handle it according to law and will not be soft. Only in this way can we be fair to those who have died,’’ he said.
The accident was the biggest blow yet to China’s burgeoning high-speed rail ambitions that have been highlighted as a symbol of the country’s rising economic and technological prowess.
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