Karachi: The death toll in Monday’s train accident in Pakistan’s Sindh province rose Tuesday to 6, according to media reports. The opposition parties on the other hand, demanded an immediate probe into the reasons for one of the country’s worst train accidents. Earlier Monday, the Sindh government had reported 50 deaths and over 70 injured.
However, Tuesday it said that 65 people were killed and over 100 others injured in the train accident between Reti and Daharki railway stations. Eight carriages of Millat Express derailed just before Sir Syed Express rammed into them near Dharki, a city located in the Ghotki district of upper Sindh early Monday morning.
The rescue operation has been completed and the track has been cleared after retrieving 17 coaches that had been damaged by the crash and the engine of the train, ‘Geo News’ quoted as saying Divisional Superintendent, Railway Sukkur Tariq Latif. “The up and down track has been restored. We have received orders to resume train service,” Latif said.
Minister for Railways Azam Swati said if his resignation meant the deceased can come back to life, he was ready to do so even as he promised a comprehensive inquiry. He said that train tracks in the Sukkur Division were in poor condition. “We have to find out now who is responsible for this accident,” he said.
The deadly accident occurred when the Sir Syed Express headed from Rawalpindi to Karachi, coming from the other direction, smashed into derailed coaches of the first train in the adjacent track, a spokesperson of Pakistan Railways said. “The driver tried to apply emergency brakes but the locomotive hit the infringing coaches,” the railways said in an initial report.
Rescuing trapped passengers was a ‘challenge’ for the rescue officials who had to employ heavy machinery to free people. The efforts were hampered by lack of appropriate cutters, the railways also said.