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At least 33 people were killed and 100 injured as 10 bogies of Rawalpindi-bound Hazara Express.
New Delhi: At least 33 people were killed and 100 injured as 8 bogies of Rawalpindi-bound Hazara Express derailed near Sahara Railway Station, 275 km near Karachi on Sunday, local media reported. Ten bogies had gone off track in the train crash, Railways Divisional Superintendent Sukkur Mahmoodur Rahman was quoted as saying by Geo TV.
The injured were shifted to the People’s Medical Hospital in Nawabshah. Rescue efforts are underway to pull out passengers from the affected bogies. A train is arriving at the site of the incident from the Loco Shed Rohri. It will take at least three hours to reach the site, Rahman said.
“Due to the accident, the traffic on the up track is suspended,” he told Geo News. Reason behind the derailment is not yet known.
At Least 33 bodies Recovered
Deputy Superintendent of Pakistan Railways Mahmood Rehman confirmed that at least 15 bodies were recovered from the damaged bogies while around 50 injured people were being taken to hospitals.
Television channels showed the crash site with train compartments badly damaged near the station. They showed rescue workers and police trying to pull out people from the derailed compartments along with civilians who also joined the rescue work.
Rescue Work On
“Right now, the focus is on rescue work and recovering people from the derailed compartments,” Rehman said, adding that the cause of the accident is being investigated.
A spokesperson of the Pakistan Railways in Karachi said at least eight bogies derailed and the intensity of the accident increased due to delayed application of brakes.
The affected bogies will be lifted off the track in a few hours using machines, he said, adding that trains departing from Karachi might face delays. Speaking to the media in Lahore, Federal Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique said the reports suggested that 15 people had died and several were injured.
Reason Behind Accident- Not Known
The train was travelling at a reasonable speed, which initial investigations showed, he said, adding that an emergency was imposed in hospitals in Sukkur and Nawabshah.
“It was either a mechanical fault or it was developed,” he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.
Pakistan Railways Sukkur Divisional Commercial Officer (DCO) Mohsin Siyal said that an unknown number of bogies had derailed.
“Some people are reporting that five bogies had derailed, some are saying eight have derailed and some are saying 10 have derailed,” he said.
Shaheed Benzirabad Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Muhammad Younis Chandio termed the incident a “big accident”. However, the official refrained from confirming the number of casualties, the report said. Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah expressed grief over the lives lost in the incident.
In a statement, he directed the Nawabshah deputy commissioner to provide the injured with immediate medical assistance. Last April, seven people were killed when a fire broke out in a bogie of the Karachi Express travelling from Karachi to Lahore near Tando Masti Khan in the Khairpur district of the southern Sindh province.
(With Inputs From Agencies)
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