The high-speed train collision in China on Saturday has shocked the entire world, and the way the country's railway administrators have handled the aftermath has done nothing to reassure the public of its professionalism.

Engineering machines work at the accident site of the deadly high-speed train crash near Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, July 26, 2011. The investigative group of the accident decided to carry debris of damaged train to Wenzhou West Railway Station for further investigation. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)
Saturday's crash, in which four train carriages fell off a viaduct and two derailed in the eastern province of Zhejiang, has left at least 39 dead and 210 others injured.

Although having apologized to passengers and re-declared confidence in the country's high-speed train technologies, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) is still facing widespread criticism of the way it handled the accident. The public are also lashing out at the ministry as they grow increasing concerned about transportation safety.

A lightning strike has been blamed for the accident. It caused the train which was hit by another from behind, to lose power and shut down the monitoring system, said the ministry -- the same explanation that it offered after its newly-opened Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway experienced similar power-cuts in the past month.

The ministry has previously declared that China's high-speed railways were designed to be "sensitive" to safety risks, but on Saturday the so-called highly protective monitoring system was not working.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet