At least 25 people died, and 80 others suffered injuries after coaches of a passenger train derailed in southern Pakistan on Sunday, the local media reports. The train was heading to Rawalpindi from Karachi.

The Hazara Express train derailed near the Sarhari Railway Station in Nawabshah district. According to a Pakistan Railways spokesperson, eight bogies of the train derailed and the accident intensified after the delayed application of brakes.

Rescue teams and police have reportedly been dispatched to the accident site which saw heavy damage. The focus is on rescue work and recovering people from derailed compartments, the deputy superintendent of Pakistan Railways Mahmood Rehman said.

The affected bogies will be lifted off the track in a few hours using machines, the Pakistan Railways spokesperson said, adding that trains departing from Karachi might face delays.

Mohsin Siyal, Pakistan Railways Sukkur Divisional Commercial Officer (DCO) told Dawn that an unspecified 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. “I am on the way to the site of accident,” he added.

Speaking to the media in Lahore, Federal Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique said that earlier reports suggested that 15 people had died and several were injured.

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.

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.

Source - CNBC

-Agencies