Pakistan: People were killed today, Sunday, when a train derailed in southern Pakistan, according to the Minister of Railways. At the same time, a state of emergency was declared in hospitals, where dozens of injured were transported.
Train accidents frequently occur on Pakistan’s ageing railway system, with tracks extending over distances totalling about 7,500 km and used by more than 80 million passengers annually.
“It is a very big accident,” Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq told reporters. “The information so far indicates that 28 passengers died and many were injured.”
Rafiq mentioned that at least 1,000 people were on board the “Hazara Express” train when it derailed on a part of the tracks in which no malfunctions were recorded.
He said, “It may be due to two reasons: the first is that it is a mechanical failure or an artificial failure. It may be sabotage. We will investigate.”
The accident occurred near the Sahara railway station near the city of Nawab Shah in the southern province of Sindh.
“Eight carriages derailed,” Mohsen Sial, an official in the railway sector, told Ham News.
Earlier, it was reported that at least 15 people were killed and 50 injured, an official of the Pakistan Railways Authority told Xinhua.
