Pakistan: Six major train accidents jolt 10-month old PTI government
Call to sack railways minister after train journey turns into nightmare in Pakistan
Islamabad: Deaths and injuries caused by derailment, collision of trains across the country have become an everyday affair and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is under immense pressure to sack its Railways Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad.
Following are the details of some of the deadly accidents occurred since PTI came to power last year.
September 16, 2018: Khushhal Khan Khattak Express on its way to Peshawar when some of its bogies derails between the Masaan and Sohan railway stations, injuring 21 passengers.
April 1, 2019: More than eight compartments of a freight train derail near Chak 75/P, about 12km from Rahim Yar Khan. Railway traffic remains suspended for hours on both tracks after the accident.
April 10, 2019: Bahauddin Zakariya Express derails at Mehrabpur Junction, Naushahro Feroze Sindh injuring dozens of passengers.
May 27, 2019: A woman dies while 4 sustain severe wounds as speeding train crushes a rickshaw and a motorcycle in Lahore. The accident takes place at Kot Lakhpat railway crossing.
June 20, 2019: Three people lose their lives as a passenger train collides with a freight train at Makli Shah, Hyderabad Sindh.
July 11, 2019: At least 16 people die while 84 are injured when a passenger train, the Akbar Express, collides with a freight train at the Walhar Railway Station in Sadiqabad.
A National Assembly standing committee was recently told that there have been 384 train accidents in Pakistan since 2014: 74 in 2018-19; 67 in 2017-18; 78 in 2016-17; 76 in 2015-16; and 89 accidents in 2014-15.