Passengers beat up railway staff after engine stalls

SARGODHA:

Passengers aboard the Sargodha-Karachi Hazara Express beat up railway staff after the engine stalled midway on Tuesday.

According to police officials, several passengers began beating up the train staff aboard the Hazara Express after the engine stalled and the train was delayed for over three hours.

Police officials said that the train engine stopped around Shaheenabad and after nearly two hours of waiting a dozen passengers broke into driver Muhammad Islam’s cabin and began beating him up. Some time after the incident the engine restarted and the train progressed to the Khanewal station where the passengers also assaulted several station workers. Railway authorities called police officials to neutralise the situation.

Sargodha Civil Lines police arrived at the scene and arrested over 23 passengers for assaulting railway workers. Separate cases have been registered against 23 passengers and police officials have taken the men into custody. Railway authorities said that the engine’s stalling was a routine matter and that this did not justify violence.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2011.