ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, October 13 (ANI) — At least four people were killed and more than 40 others injured after the Rehman Baba Express derailed near Sher Shah Railway Station in the Multan district of Punjab province on Tuesday, local media reported.
The train was bound for Peshawar. Pakistan’s Minister for Railways, Hanif Abbasi, confirmed the accident and the passenger fatalities.
According to Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn, Abbasi appointed the federal government inspector of railways to lead the investigation into the incident.
Locomotive assistant Rizwan Abbas said the train was traveling at 100 kilometers per hour when he suddenly felt a jolt while passing through the Sher Shah station area. He said he applied the emergency brakes to bring the train to a halt.
“When I got out of the locomotive and looked back, I saw that the passenger coaches had derailed and were lying off the tracks. It was horrible,” Dawn quoted Abbas as saying.
Pakistan has recorded multiple train derailments over the past year, raising concerns about possible negligence and systemic weaknesses in Pakistan Railways’ maintenance of rolling stock and rail infrastructure.
On October 1, two passenger trains, the Shalimar Express and Pakistan Express, narrowly avoided major accidents after derailing.
Earlier in August, one person was killed and at least 24 passengers were injured when four carriages of the Awam Express, which operates between Peshawar and Karachi, derailed near Lodhran railway station.
Lodhran Deputy Commissioner Lubna Nazir said the injured included 16 men, four women and three children, according to Geo News.
In July, three coaches of the Jaffar Express derailed following an explosion on the railway track near Shikarpur in Sindh province. One passenger was injured, and train services in the area were disrupted.
Several carriages derailed as a result of the blast, interrupting railway operations along the affected route. (ANI)
About The Author
