Derailed: Train blast kills girl, injures 9

10 wagons of the Karachi Night Coach went off the track near Dhabiji.

KARACHI:

A six-year-old girl was killed and at least nine others wounded on Tuesday evening when a bomb tore through the Lahore-bound passenger train near Dhabiji, around 56 kilometres of Karachi. Ten wagons of the train came apart as a result.

According to Pakistan Railways’ Divisional Superintendent Maqsood Unnabi, the device, planted on the railway track, exploded at 8.10pm derailing 10 wagons of the Night Coach Express.

“The blast affected the train’s cargo van and its engine, subsequently 10 coaches detached and got out of the tracks,” Unnabi said while talking to The Express Tribune.

Confirming the casualties, SSP Robin Yamin said, “A six month old girl was killed and 9 others were injured including the driver, a constable and seven passengers.

The train left the Karachi Cantonment Railway Station at 7:15 pm carrying 350 passengers in 14 coaches. All the trains to and from Karachi were stopped following the blast.  Shoaib Adil,a senior railways official, while talking to The Express Tribune said that an engine has been dispatched to bring back the remaining coaches and passengers to the Karachi Cantonment Railway Station. After returning they will be sent to Lahore on another train.



“We are arranging another train for the passengers to transport them to their destination when the rail tracks will be cleared,” Adil explained.

Meanwhile, poor visibility has been hampering attempts by the rescue team in the area. SHO Railway Police Tariq Mehmood said that their teams will conduct an inquiry into the nature and size of the explosive used in the blast. He also said that it will be ‘premature’ to speak about the perpetrators behind the attack as the investigations were still underway and at a preliminary stage.


Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2014.