China's railway ministry sacked its spokesman Tuesday, state media reported, following fierce public criticism over the way he handled the aftermath of a deadly train crash.

Wang Yongping became the focus of public anger after he made a series of faux pas at press conferences about the July 23 high-speed train collision in eastern China that left at least 40 people dead and nearly 200 others injured.

In a brief report, the official Xinhua news agency said that "China's Ministry of Railways said Tuesday it decided to dismiss... spokesman Wang Yongping from office," but give no reasons for the sacking.

In one now infamous example, when asked about why a girl was pulled out of the train wreckage alive after rescue operations had been officially called off, Wang's only response was that it was "a miracle of life".

In another instance, when questioned about why the government was reportedly burying parts of the train wreckage, he explained it was to facilitate rescue operations before saying: "Believe it or not, I believe it anyway."

Wang's elusive and apparently uncaring responses enraged the Chinese public, which was already hugely concerned about why the accident happened and whether high-speed trains were safe.

An online poll on Sina's popular Twitter-like Weibo service in which more than 35,000 people took part soon after the crash revealed that 97 percent of respondents did not believe anything Wang had said since the accident.

One Internet user blasted his responses to the media as "pathetic", adding they had made him "rise to fame overnight".

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