Sunday’s tragedy came just a day after three coaches of Allama Iqbal Express — travelling from Karachi to Sialkot — derailed near Padidan railway station in Sindh’s Naushahro Feroze district, though none suffered injuries.
The Hazara Express had left Karachi at 8am, the spokesperson said. “The intensity of the accident increased due to a delayed application of the brakes. At least eight to 10 bogies of the train’s 17 carriages derailed,” he added. Faiz Muhammad Mari, a regional health official, said the death toll was likely to rise due to the severity of injuries. Emergency was declared in the main hospitals in Nawabshah and neighbouring districts of Sindh.
It was unclear what caused the derailment but Pakistan’s railway minister, Khawaja Saad Rafique, said the train had been running at a normal speed when it crashed at 1.08pm near Sarhari railway station in Nawabshah. “We are trying to establish what caused the derailment. There can be two reasons; either it was a mechanical fault, or the fault may have been created, that is, it might be a sabotage. We will investigate it,” the minister said.
Wounded passengers were moved to nearby hospitals. Scores of locals from nearby villages also reached the spot and started rescuing the stranded passengers. There were chaotic scenes at the site as ambulances and private cars ferried the injured for treatment. Footage aired on TV showed many passengers gathered near the derailed bogies. Following the accident, train operations to and from the interior districts of Sindh were suspended, with railway authorities saying that it may take up to 18 hours to restore operations.
Accidents in Pakistan’s decaying railway system are not uncommon. There has been mounting criticism of insufficient safety checks — factors that contributed to a number of major railway accidents in the past. Two years ago, 65 people were killed when two trains collided in the same province. A gas cylinder explosion and fire on a train in Punjab province killed over 70 people in 2019.