Toll rises to 63 from deadly Sindh train crash

DAHARKI: Engineers Tuesday combed the mangled wreckage of two trains that collided near Sindh province’s Daharki area, an accident that killed dozens and highlighted huge safety problems on the nation’s dilapidated rail network.

At least 63 people were killed early on Monday when a high-speed passenger train knifed through carriages of another express that had derailed minutes earlier. According to Pakistan Railways Pakistan Railways spokesman Ijaz Shah, the final number of the dead and injured would be released soon. The families of those killed would receive compensation of 1.5 million rupees, he added.

Usman Abdullah, the deputy provincial commissioner, said that 63 people had died in the accident, issuing two lists that named 51 victims and marked 12 others as unidentified. They ranged from a months-old infant to a woman who was 81.

Army and civil engineers cleared the wreckage of carriages crushed like tin cans in the collision, and welders finalised repairs to the damaged rails. After the restoration of the up track, train operations resumed with the Bahauddin Zakaria Express train. The work on the down track was under way which the spokesman said would be restored soon.

A heavy stench of diesel, sweat and blood hung over the scene, with workers saying bodies were still being pulled overnight from mangled carriages. “This is the most colossal accident I have seen in about 10 years of service,” railway engineer Jahan Zeb told AFP, his eyes puffy from sleeplessness.

The Millat Express was heading from Karachi to Sargodha when it derailed, its carriages strewn over the tracks as the Sir Syed Express from Rawalpindi arrived minutes later in the opposite direction, smashing into it.

The accident has reignited debate about the parlous state of Pakistan’s public transport system — particularly a rail network that has seen little investment in decades. Information minister Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday blamed the previous government for investing in Lahore’s Orange Line metro service instead of the rail network.

It is not known what caused the Millat Express to jump its tracks, but Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid — a former railways minister — described that section of the line as “a shambles”, while current minister Azam Swati called it “really dangerous”.

Khan Mohammad, station master at nearby Reti junction, said more lives could have been saved if they had had just a few more minutes after the derailment. “I saw a six or seven-year-old girl trapped underneath the locomotive, her knee stuck in the track,” he said. “We somehow rescued her, and she was miraculously alive.”

But then the oncoming train hit. “If there had been a delay of about 10 minutes, this accident could have been averted,” he said. The crash happened around 3:30 am when most of the 1,200 passengers aboard the two trains would have been dozing.

Farmer Ali Nawaz was out watering his crop — normal at this time of year to stop summer evaporation — when he heard screeching sounds and then saw flames. “We gathered that the train had derailed and frantically started calling up the railways official,” the 47-year-old told AFP. “While we were trying to call, the other train came up... with a very big blast and flames riding high in the sky.” “It was like hell let loose on the train,” said Ali Bux, another farmer.