Islamabad: At least 12 people were killed and more than a hundred injured when a passenger train derailed on Tuesday in Bolan area of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, railway authorities said.
The engine driver and his assistant were among the dead, officials said. Brake failure caused the derailment of the Jaffar Express near Aaab-Gum area, about 75km from Quetta, they said.
The train was travelling to Rawalpindi, the garrison city adjacent to Islamabad. All carriages and the engine went off track, the state radio quoting police as saying. Railway officials said the train was carrying around 300 passengers.
Seventy wounded passengers were moved to a hospital at Mach while those with serious injuries were being moved to hospitals in Quetta.
A quick reaction force of Frontier Corps Balochistan and ambulances reached the site for the rescue operation, the military’s Inter-Services Public Relations said.
Two MI-17 helicopters of the Pakistan Army were also sent from Quetta, the statement said.
Pakistani TV footage showed several badly damaged train cars and rescuers pulling the injured from the wreckage. In a statement, the military said it dispatched a helicopter and ambulances to transport the injured to hospitals..
Rescuers were seen trying to pull the injured from the derailed cars.
“Among the dead so far confirmed, five are passengers, two drivers of the train and two members of the railway police,” Durrani said.
Train accidents are common in Pakistan, which inherited thousands of miles of track and trains from former colonial power, Britain.
The railways have seen decades of decline due to corruption, mismanagement and lack of investment.
In July, at least 17 people were killed when a special military train fell into a canal after a bridge partially collapsed.
With input from agencies
