A high-speed passenger train jumped the tracks and slammed into another train early Monday. ((Associated Press)) A collision between two trains in eastern China on Monday that left at least 70 people dead and injured more than 420 is being blamed on human error, Chinese state media say.

Xinhua News Agency reported on its website that the crash, China's worst train accident in a decade, took place before dawn near the city of Zibo in Shandong province.

The agency said at least 70 of the injured were in serious condition, including the coach of China's national sailing team.

Xinhua said investigators had ruled out terrorism as a cause of the crash.

The agency's English-language report blamed the accident on human error, while its Chinese website attributed the crash to negligence, without giving other details. But two railway officials were fired and face an investigation by the Ministry of Railways.

Witnesses said a train travelling from Beijing to the coastal city of Qingdao, host of the sailing competition during the Olympics in August, derailed and hit a second train at about 4:40 a.m. local time, according to Xinhua.

Rescuers remove a victim from a carriage after two passenger trains collided in east China's Shandong province Monday. ((Associated Press)) News photos showed the derailed train at the bottom of a ditch, with rescuers removing passengers from a carriage on its side.

Survivors with white sheets wrapped around their shoulders stood or sat near the wreckage.

The second train did not overturn in the ditch, but a news photo showed one of its carriages resting perpendicular to the track.

In January, 18 people died when a train hurtling through the night at more than 120 km/h slammed into a group of about 100 workers carrying out track maintenance near the city of Anqiu in Shandong province.

Monday's collision was the worst train accident in China since 1997 when a collision killed 126 people, according to the 163.com news website.