06 August 2023 , 12:14
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At least 30 passengers have been killed with dozens more injured after a train derailed near in Pakistan.
Senior railway officer Mahmoodur Rehman Lakho said the Hazara Express was on its way from Karachi to Rawalpindi when 10 cars derailed near the Sarhari railway station off Nawabshah. Mr Lakho is in charge of railways in the accident area. He said rescue crews took injured passengers to the nearby Peoples Hospital in Nawabshah.
Mohsin Sayal, another senior railway officer, said train traffic has been suspended on the main railway line as repair trains have been dispatched to the scene. He said alternative travel arrangements and medical care will be made available for the train's passengers.
Railway Minister Saad Rafiq said early investigations showed the train was travelling at normal speed. He explained that officials aree trying to establish what led to the derailment as emergency services help save people from the twisted wreckage.
Accidents on the country's antiquated railway system are not uncommon (RAVINDER SINGH ROBIN)Train crashes often occurr on poorly maintained railways tracks in Pakistan where colonial-era communications and signal systems haven't been modernised and safety standards are poor.
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Director General Health Services Sindh Dr Irshad Memon told The Express Tribune that 30 bodies have been recovered and moved to nearby hospitals. Locals from nearby villages also joined the rescue effort.
Two years ago, two trains travelling in Sindh province collided killed 40 people and injuring dozens. Between 2013 and 2019, 150 people died in similar incidents. Four years ago, 75 passengers burnt to death in a fire aboard the Tezgam express train.
It derailed near the Pakistani town of Nawabshah in southern Sindh province (Google)Television footage showed passengers in close proximity to the overturned train carriages, with many on its side. Younis Chandio, the deputy inspector general of police for Benazirabad, says nine out of the ten wrecked train carriages have now been successfully cleared.
Rescue teams of Pakistan Army and Rangers said that “the rescue operation of Pakistan Army will continue till the transfer of the last injured to the hospital and the rehabilitation of the people trapped at the accident site”.
Volunteers search for the victims in the carriages following the derailmen (AFP via Getty Images)The tragedy comes a day after the Allama Iqbal Express narrowly averted a major disaster when two of its train carriages derailed near Padidan railway station. No casualties were reported, rescue officials stated on Saturday.
In June, 275 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in a crash involving three trains in India's eastern Odisha state. Authorities arrested three railway officials as part of an investigation into one of the deadliest train crashes in the country’s history.
“We can’t bring back those we have lost but the government is with them (families) in their grief,” Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi said when he visited the scene. “This incident is very serious for the government. Whoever is found guilty will be punished severely."