Islamabad, Aug 6 : At least fifteen passengers died and fifty injured on Sunday after nearly 10 bogies of Havelian-bound Hazara Express derailed near Sahara Railway Station, located 275 kilometres away from Karachi, according to Geo News.
Train accidents are not uncommon in Pakistan, as several incidents have taken the lives of hundreds of people and injured scores of others, but the authorities fail to take measures that prevent such mishappenings.
The train operations to and from interior districts of Sindh have been suspended after the train crash.
The affected were shifted to the People’s Medical Hospital in Nawabshah, with more injuries feared, as officials say that the reason behind the derailment is not yet known.
Railways Divisional Superintendent Sukkur Mahmoodur Rahman confirmed that 10 bogies had gone off track in the train crash. More details are being obtained, he added.
Police said rescue efforts to recover passengers from the affected bogies are being carried out at the moment. Emergency, as per local administration, has been imposed in nearby hospitals following the accident.
Rahman added that a train to carry out relief activities is arriving at the site of the incident from the Loco Shed Rohri. It will take at least three hours to reach the site.
“Due to the accident, the traffic on the up track is suspended,” he told Geo News.
The same locomotive — heading to Hevelian from Karachi — had escaped a grave accident in March this year after railway officials put a rusted train on tracks. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
The latest accident came just a day after three coaches of Allama Iqbal Express — travelling from Karachi to Sialkot — derailed, but no one suffered injuries.
Pakistan has a shoddy record when it comes to accidents involving trains. In the past decade, the country has witnessed a number of deadly train accidents, and they seem to have increased in frequency over the past few years.
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