Around two dozen grieving relatives of victims of a high-speed train crash have been laying flowers at the site of the accident that killed 39 people and prompted a public outcry.

The family members gathered Friday at the muddy spot under a viaduct from which four train cars plunged after one bullet train rammed into another that had stalled. They declined to speak to the media.

As a drizzle fell, relatives knelt as they burned incense and paper near a pillar of the viaduct on which a poem mourning the crash victims had been scribbled.

Saturday's accident near the city of Wenzhou has triggered public anger over what caused the crash and the government's handling of the aftermath.