Lahore: A train carrying hundreds of Pakistan military personnel and their families plunged into a canal on Thursday, killing 12 soldiers, when a bridge collapsed in what the army suspects was sabotage, officials said.
The military’s media wing confirmed that four carriages fell into the canal. It said the commander of one unit was among the casualties.
The military is fighting a Taliban insurgency in several regions of the country’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan in the northwest.
The crash in Pakistan’s Gujranwala district, in the northeast, happened as an army unit was being transported from southern Sindh province to northern Pakistan.
“There were around 300 passengers on board,” Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq told Reuters. “It is too early to say about the reason for the mishap. Rescue work is under way.” More than 50 people were rescued, a military official said.
Television images of the scene showed several carriages partly submerged in the canal.
The army’s media wing said eight bodies had been pulled out of the water.
Rafiq told Geo TV that six people were missing and the cause of the crash was unknown. But a senior military official said the army suspected sabotage.
“We suspect that this was an act of sabotage ... The planks on the rail were tampered with,” the official said, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The collapse also raises concerns about the safety of infrastructure. Several TV channels reported that the bridge had been marked as “extremely dangerous”.
In May, a Pakistan military helicopter carrying diplomats to inspect a tourist project crashed, killing seven people, including the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines.
Aaj TV said that the compartments were carrying over 200 passengers when these fell into the stream.
Railway Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique said the bridge collapsed when the train was passing over it in Janki Chatta area of Gujranwala, a district located in the country’s Punjab province, Xinhua news agency reported.
He said that the possibility of terrorist attack behind the attack cannot be ruled out as there was no apparent fault in the train or the bridge.
Rafique said another passenger train crossed the bridge in the morning and at that time it was intact and fully functional.
He said he has formed an inquiry committee to probe the incident, and added he himself was on his way to the accident site for monitoring the rescue work.
Railway sources said the train had 21 cargo wagons and six passenger coaches, of which four fell into the canal.
Dunya TV said the train was shifting cargo of the Pakistan army from Kharian cantonment city to Pano Aqil city.
The report also said that about 20 to 30 people, including soldiers and their families, were trapped in a compartment which could not be opened yet.
Rescue teams from the army were using cutters and other machines to gain access to the occupants in the compartment, said the report.
The injured passengers have been shifted to military hospital of the city.
The Pakistan army, residents and government rescue teams are taking part in the operation to pull out the people from the canal.
Two helicopters and a crane of the army also have joined in the rescue operation.
A relief train carrying medical staff and technical staff has been dispatched from Lahore to the accident site.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed concern over the mishap and directed the officials of the Pakistan Railways to rush to the site.
He also directed the officials to repair the track in the quickest possible way to restore railway traffic. Indo-Asian News Service
