Rainstorms hitting northwest China's Shaanxi Province over weekend have killed six people and destroyed a 150-meter-long bridge on Longhai Railway (from Lianyungang to Xinjiang).

The bridge over the Bahe River, which runs near Xi'an City, collapsed Sunday afternoon and detained 300 trains.

Over 10,000 passengers were stranded in Xi'an City, capital of Shaanxi Province. So far, railway traffic to and from Xi'an has been blocked.

The city has organized an emergency rescue and traffic command force, which is led by Sun Qingyun, mayor of Xi'an. The Xi'an Railway Station has opened six service windows for passengers to return their tickets.

The continuous rainstorms have caused flooding in 27 counties in Shaanxi and brought about blackout and break-off of communications in some area.

( China Daily June 10, 2002)