Railway official, Sardar Asim, said that the accident happened at 7 am on Saturday morning, a few minutes after the Pakistan Express was leaving the Toba Tek Singh station for Islamabad.
The Karachi-Islamabad train had not picked up speed when it collided with a wagon carrying 12 school children from various public schools across the district. “We couldn’t see the incident because of the dense fog but the wagon was crossing the lines at an unmanned crossing,” Asim said, adding that no major injuries were reported from the accident.
The accident took place in the Thaana Chatyana area, near the Chak 316 crossing. School van driver Muhammad Ashraf was crossing the gateless crossing in the fog when his vehicle moved in the direct path of an incoming train.
The children in the van suffered minor injuries as the windows of the vehicle smashed and they were hit with the shattered glass. The van driver then took the children to the Shorkot hospital where nurses treated them for their injuries. “Two of the children were brought to us in serious condition,” said Dr Mubbashir, adding “both children had suffered head injuries and one of them is still in critical condition.”
The injured children include Muhammad Kashif and Zeeshan, the latter of whom is still in critical condition. The other children were released from the hospital after receiving treatment.
So far no charges have been brought against the van driver, Muhammad Ashraf, for crossing the tracks. Ashraf later told hospital authorities that he was unable to see anything due to the dense fog and that was why he missed the train. Several school children told hospital authorities that Ashraf’s daily route involved crossing the train tracks because he did not want to go around and take the longer route.
“The children were lucky to get by with minor scrapes, considering the fact that this could have been much worse,” Dr Mubbashir said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2010.
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