Jaffar Express tragedy : Death toll from Bolan train crash hits 19

Inquiry panel formed to ascertain the causes; 96 people still in hospital

QUETTA: The death toll from a deadly train accident in Bolan district has risen to 19 as three more passengers succumbed to their injuries overnight. Around a dozen passengers are still in a critical condition, officials said on Wednesday.

Jaffar Express, carrying 280 passengers, was en route to Rawalpindi from Quetta when it derailed in Aab-e-Gum area of Bolan district, 76 kilometres southeast of Quetta on Tuesday. As a result, 16 passengers died on the spot while nearly 200 were injured.

“The death toll has risen to 19. A total of 96 people are being treated in hospitals – around a dozen of them for their critical wounds,” Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told AFP.



A railways official said experts visited the crash site Tuesday morning, adding that an inquiry panel has been formed under the supervision of Deputy Superintendent Faiz Bugti to find out the causes.

Another railways official on Tuesday blamed ‘excessive speed’ for the fatal crash. Residents and witnesses verified the claim, saying that the train, which takes 35 minutes from Mach station to reach Aab-e-Gum, chugged into the station on Tuesday only in 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, the track was cleared on Wednesday and Jaffar Express departed for Rawalpindi with 950 passengers onboard. A senior railways official said now a pilot engine would be sent to search the track from Quetta to Sibi and the passenger trains would only move after the pilot engine gave the clearance.

According officials, it is the first overshoot incident of a passenger train in the 119-year history of Pakistan Railways.

Engines in bad shape

Railways’ Quetta Locoshed official Ubaidullah Khan said almost half of the locomotives used by the railways in Balochistan are poorly maintained and not in a good shape.  Talking to The Express Tribune, he said Balochistan has 27 train engines out of which 14 are in a better condition while 13 are not in working condition.

“Around six to seven engines are in comparatively better condition while others are not fit but we are using them,” Ubaidullah said, adding that 13 locomotives have been sent to the workshop in Rawalpindi for repairs but to date they have not returned.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2015.