RAHIM YAR KHAN, July 11: The death toll from a collision between two trains in Sadiqabad has risen to 21, officials said on Thursday,
the second deadly train accident in Pakistan in less than a month. Officials said the Akbar Bugti Express travelling from Lahore to Quetta collided with a stationary freight train at the Walhar Railway Station in Sadiqabad Tehsil of Punjab province. The freight train was standing on the loop line when the passenger train, instead of running on the mainline, went on the wrong track. Three to four bogies of the passenger train derailed while the engine of the passenger train was completely destroyed. Eyewitness to the train accident said the accident occurred at 4am when most of the passengers were sleeping. They added that they initially rescued passengers on a self-help basis from the bogies and that rescue teams arrived at the scene of the accident till not much later. Video footage from earlier in the day showed the heavily damaged train engine and carriages, as emergency workers and local people used metal-cutting tools and heavy cranes. The regional police officer (RPO) in the area said rescue teams, using hydraulic cutters, have now recovered all the dead and wounded from the wreckage and completed their operation. – Agencies
