Pakistan: At least 40 killed, 50 injured as passenger trains collide in Sindh’s Ghotki district

At least 40 people were killed and dozens injured on Monday when a packed Pakistani inter-city train ploughed into another express that had derailed just minutes earlier, officials said.

Several people were still trapped in the mangled wreckage near Daharki, in a remote part of rural Sindh province, which took rescue workers with specialist equipment hours to reach.

The double accident happened around 3.30am (2230 GMT) when most of the 1,200 passengers aboard the two trains would have been dozing.

“We tumbled upon each other, but that was not so fatal,” Akhtar Rajput, a passenger on the train that derailed, told AFP.

“Then another train hit us from nowhere, and that hit us harder. When I regained my senses, I saw passengers lying around me, some were trying to get out of the coach.”

The Millat Express was heading from Karachi to Sargodha when it derailed, spilling carriages onto the track carrying the Sir Syed Express from Rawalpindi in the opposite direction.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the incidents were just minutes apart.

“I was disoriented and trying to figure out what happened to us when the other train hit,” Shahid, another passenger, told AFP.

Senior Daharki police officer Umar Tufail said 40 people were killed and dozens injured.

“One coach is under the engine, and we can see three bodies trapped inside,” he told AFP.

Source – https://www.khaleejtimes.com/world/rest-of-asia/pakistan-at-least-40-killed-50-injured-as-passenger-trains-collide-in-sindhs-ghotki-district