UPDATE - 100s of passengers trapped in train due to heavy rains rescued after 2 days in China

UPDATES WITH RESCUE OF STUCK PASSENGERS; CHANGES HEADLINE

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - Hundreds of Chinese passengers stuck in a train for two days in the capital Beijing were rescued on Wednesday, authorities said.

Around 400 of the passengers, trapped inside a train in Beijing’s western Mengtougou district due to heavy rainfall since the weekend, were evacuated today, daily Global Times reported. It was the second batch of trapped passengers to be rescued.

Beijing police battled waters for around four hours to bring supplies to the stranded passengers and later evacuate them.

Beijing and surrounding areas were hit by heavy rains since the weekend, disrupting normal lives, hitting local transport and displacing tens of thousands of people.

Chinese authorities deployed soldiers and military choppers during the massive rescue operations to move people to safer places.

The authorities Wednesday also predicted higher rainfall in north and northeastern China, western and southern parts of South China, and the southern part of China’s southwestern regions.

China's National Commission for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) has said many parts of northern and southern China “face a high risk of flooding” this month as “two or three typhoons will make landfall or influence weather systems across the country."

Also on Wednesday, a red alert for rainstorms was issued for the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.

At least 20 people were killed in Beijing and Hebei province while 19 others are still missing since heavy rains lashed the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region last weekend.

Typhoon Doksuri, which brought heavy winds and rains to the country, hit southern Fujian province last Friday and has since lashed across northern parts of the country.

Due to heavy downpours, at least 13 rivers already exceeded warning levels.

The NCDR has also warned of periodic high temperatures and drought along the northern parts of the Yangtze River besides forest fires in other places.