Rehman Baba Express derails near Karachi

No passenger sustained injuries as a result of the incident, says Edhi official

HYDERABAD:

The engine and three passenger bogies of Rehman Baba Express derailed at the meeting station near Jhimpir in the Thatta district on Friday.

However, no passenger was injured in the incident. Edhi ambulances and volunteers were rushed to the spot, but no casualties were reported, an Edhi official said.

The train was transporting passengers from Peshawar to Karachi. The cause of the derailment is still not known. The accident caused the suspension of train service for three hours on that part of the down track.

Passengers suffered difficulties because of scorching heat as a result of the incident. They waited for hours for the restoration of the train service.

Accidents on the decaying rail system of Pakistan are fairly common.

In June last year, 65 people were killed and over 100 injured when a Karachi-bound train ploughed into the derailed bogies of a Sargodha-bound express near the border between Sindh and Punjab provinces.

Read more: 150 killed in railway accidents in past five years

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

The double accident happened near Daharki in Sindh’s remote Ghotki district at around 3.30 am when most of the 1,200 passengers aboard the two trains were dozing.

In 2005, in the same district, about 130 people were killed when a crowded passenger train rammed into another at a station and a third train struck the wreckage.

Successive governments have for years been trying to secure funds to upgrade the system, including a planned new rail track called ML-1 as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative of energy and infrastructure projects.