At least 34 people were killed and dozens injured, some still trapped under metal debris, in a derailment followed by a collision with another passenger train Monday morning in southern Pakistan.
Helpers called on the spot were working to free passengers, still unknown in number, trapped in the wreckage of the Millat Express, which crashed near the town of Daharki, in northern Sindh province, a spokesperson reported. of Pakistan Railways.
Train collision in Pakistan kills at least 30 https://t.co/fRUsGBeuDM pic.twitter.com/624mYLFQ3k
- Reuters (@Reuters) June 7, 2021
The train arriving from Karachi derailed just before dawn near Daharki, before being struck by another arriving from Rawalpindi, he said.
Live footage from cell phones shows a tangle of metal debris and several overturned green Pakistan Railways cars.
The army as reinforcements
They also showed a medical team placing an IV on a man whose only torso emerged from the chaos.
Daharki police official Umar Tufail reported at least 34 dead and dozens injured.
"The site (of the accident) is off-center and we have difficulties in organizing rescue", in particular to bring the appropriate equipment to the site in order to clear at least six cars destroyed in the accident, explained the door. - speech of the railways.
The chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, General Akhtar Nawaz Satti, announced on the private ARY television channel that the army and paramilitary forces had been able to reach the site from nearby bases to help with relief efforts.
An investigation has been ordered
Villagers flocked to the scene to try to help the injured, local media footage showed.
The accident occurred in a remote area of the province on a stretch of railroad crossing rich farmland.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said he was "in shock" and promised a full investigation.
"I order a full investigation into the security breaches of the railways," assured his official Twitter account on Monday.
Railway accidents are common in Pakistan which inherited thousands of kilometers of track and trains from colonial times under the British Empire.
In 1990 in Sindh province, a train collision killed more than 300 people and injured 700 others near the town of Sukkur when a crowded convoy of sixteen wagons crashed into a freight train.
More recently, in October 2019, at least 75 people were killed in a fire on their train going from Karachi to Rawalpindi.
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