Report: China Rail Staff Beat Passenger to Death

A passenger was beaten to death by staff on a train in eastern China, state media reported, dealing a fresh blow to the rail industry's reputation following a fatal crash in July.

Three train staff seized the middle-aged man by the throat and savagely beat him after he intervened in an argument involving another passenger, Jiangxi Television, a local station, reported on Monday.

Doctors were summoned from an emergency center near the station in Jiangxi province where the train stopped, but the man died before they arrived, the report said, citing witnesses and the hospital.

The television report showed a document signed by 20 passengers who had witnessed the alleged beating.

"We all feel very angry about the violent beating of the passenger by the train staff," said a woman surnamed Lai who said she was in the same carriage as the man.

Railway police in Jiangxi province were not available for comment when contacted by Agence France Presse on Tuesday.

The incident is the latest scandal to hit the country's railway system, which is struggling to rebuild public trust after a train crash near the eastern city of Wenzhou in July that killed at least 40 people.

In February, then railways minister Liu Zhijun was sacked over graft charges, after he allegedly took more than 800 million Yuan ($125 million) in kickbacks over several years on contracts linked to China's high-speed network.