(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-28 16:34

The four injured French nationals from the fatal train collision which killed 70 and injured another 420 early on Monday in east China's Shandong Province are confirmed to be family members and one of their friends.

"I am on the way to see my little brother at another hospital," one of the injured, named Joanne Boisson, 22, told Xinhua by phone.

Joanne and her father Pascal Boisson, 54, are in Zibo Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. Her 14-year-old brother, Pierre Emmanuel Boisson, was hurt in the shoulders and has been taken to Zibo No.1 Hospital.

The other injured is Pascal Boisson's friend Robin Naurence, 42, now in another hospital in Zichuan District of Zibo City, Joanne Boisson said.

"I was hurt in the back but not very seriously. I don't feel well," said Joanne, whose voice sounded weak on the phone.

"My father was badly hurt. I'm worried about my brother and Robin Naurence," she said.

Zhang Jun, director of the orthopaedics department of the hospital, said Joanne suffered back ache, but can walk on her own.

Pascal Boisson suffered multiple fractures to his ribs and bruises on the leg, Zhang told Xinhua by phone.

"He may have another fracture in the chest, but we have to decide that with an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan," Zhang said.

"He may need some time to recover, and he has to stay in bed now," he said.

Joanne said she is studying at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Her family came to visit her from France and were to spend a happy holiday together for more than ten days.

The accident happened on their way to Qingdao, an Olympic co-host city and coastal city of Shandong Province.

Joanne can communicate in Chinese with the doctors and nurses, while her father cannot.

Liang Minglai, president of Zibo Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital said on the phone that he visited Joanne and her father this morning and prepared a car for her to see her brother and her father's friend.

Liang's hospital has admitted 21 patients, and at least three of them were seriously wounded.

The casualties were from two passenger trains, one of which was en route from Beijing to Qingdao, the venue of the Olympic sailing competition, and the other, from Shandong's Yantai to Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu Province.

The train from Beijing, coded T195, derailed in the city of Zibo in Shandong Province at around 4:40 a.m. About 10 carriages toppled into a ditch.

The derailed train was hit by train 5034 and the latter veered off its tracks, too.