【英语国际】华侨城惨案迷雾重重

A deadly accident at a Chinese amusement park last week has spawned a mystery that officials are still trying to unravel.

The accident happened on Space Journey, a ride at Ecoventure Valley of Overseas Chinese Town in Shenzhen. The rise is designed to simulate the experience of a rocket launch, including acceleration twice that of gravity.

Normally, under a dome 24 meters in diameter built to suggest the vast expanse of the universe, Space Journey's 40-some passengers spin and bob in four-person carts.

But last Tuesday, something went horribly wrong, leading to the deaths of six people on the ride and injuries to 10 others.

'This is the first time in my over three decades working in this field that I have ever encountered such a mass-casualty accident,' said Bi Jianbin, vice chairman of the China Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. It was a 'huge shock' to experts, Bi said.

Neither officials nor the company that own the ride, Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town Holding Co., have offered a clear explanation for what happened. The local government held a press conference at which the park apologized for the accident. A public relations official at the company says the incident is 'under investigation, so we have nothing to say.'

In the absence of an explanation, Chinese media have quoted sometimes inconsistent eyewitness accounts. One witness said there was an explosion. Another smelled something burning.

Some unconfirmed reports say one of the ride's carts broke off and fell to the ground, killing its passengers. Several reports cite a break in the ride's power as the accident's source. There is even a video circulating on the Internet that offers a hypothetical simulation of the disaster.

Bi says the accident couldn't have been caused by a power outage. Even if the power went out, as occasionally happens on rides, it wouldn't have caused the kind of damage that appears to have occurred on Space Journey.

The ride had only been open to the public for a little over a year, since May 1, 2009. Because the machinery for the ride was special equipment, it was tested and certified as safe by the China Special Equipment Inspection and Research Institute.

Bi says Space Journey is unique to Ecoventure Valley in Shenzhen - no other theme park has one. And the ride now is closed, probably forever, as a government-organized team of experts investigate the cause of the accident.

The incident has already inflicted reputational damage, both to the parent company and to China more broadly, in addition to the obvious pain and trauma for the victims and their families.

Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town Holding's shares fell more than 9% the day after the news of the accident, and have yet to fully recover. Meanwhile, coverage of the accident has, for some in outside, reinforced the view that whether it is lead-stained toys, tainted milk or broken roller coasters, things manufactured in China are simply unsafe.

One response posted on a report about the unknown source of the accident reads: 'Made in China, enough said.'

Fair or not, people will draw their own conclusions until there's some full account of what actually happened.

上周，中国一家游乐场发生亡人事故。目前，官员们仍努力拨开疑云，探明真相。

European Pressphoto Agency一名事故伤者被送往深圳医院。事故发生在深圳市华侨城大侠谷景区太空迷航游乐项目。这一游乐项目旨在模仿火箭发射时的乘客体验，包括2G 重力加速度。

为了展示宇宙的浩瀚，投资方修建了直径达24米的穹顶。通常会有约40名乘客在这个穹顶下乘坐四人车厢快速旋转和颠簸。

但上周二出现了可怕的意外，导致六人死亡，10人受伤。

中国游艺机游乐园协会副会长毕建宾说，我在这个领域工作了30多年，这是我第一次遇到这么重大的伤亡事件。这让专家们感到非常震惊。

官员们及设备拥有者──深圳华侨城公司均未对此事故做出明确解释。当地政府举办了新闻发布会。会上，华侨城游乐场为此事表示道歉。公司公关人员说，事故正在调查中，因此无可奉告。

由于缺乏解释，中国媒体引述了目击者的描述，但这些描述有时并不一致。一名目击者说发生了爆炸，另一人闻到了烧焦的气味。

部分未经证实的报道说其中一个车厢突然断裂并跌到地上，导致乘客死亡。几篇报道称设备断电引发了事故。网上流传的一个视频甚至对这起灾难进行了假设和模拟。

毕建宾说断电不可能引发这种事故。游乐项目偶尔会停电，但就算停电也不会导致太空迷航的这种灾难发生。

这个项目自2009年5月1日起对公众开放，至今仅一年多。由于属特殊设备，它接受并通过了中国特种设备检测研究院的检测。

毕建宾说太空迷航是深圳大侠谷独有的，其它主题公园均没有这个游乐项目。这个项目目前已被关闭，可能将永远关闭，同时，政府组织的专家小组正在调查事故的起因。

这起事故不但给受害者及其家人造成了明显的痛苦及心灵上的创伤，还给游乐场的母公司乃至中国的声誉造成了伤害。

事故消息传出后，深圳华侨城公司的股价当日下跌9%以上，至今仍未完全恢复。与此同时，对此事的报道加强了部分外界人士的观点，即不论是含铅玩具、有毒牛奶还是破损的过山车，中国制造的东西就是不安全。

在有关此次事故的报道后有一句跟贴，上写道：中国制造，毋庸赘言。

不论此言是否公平，在有关当局对真实情况做出全面说明之前，人们会得出自己的结论。