Dozens killed in train collision in southern Pakistan

By Vatican News staff reporter

Harrowing scenes showed upturned carriages and mangled compartments strewn across train tracks as rescuers tried to reached survivors among the wreckage.

The crash happened after a train collided into the derailed carriages of another train on Monday in the southern province of Sindh.

Victims and casualties

Dozens of people were killed, and it was feared that the death toll could rise further. As rescuers battled to reach survivors, a railway spokesman said more than 100 people were injured.

Hospitals in the district were put on emergency alert to deal with casualties.

Pakistan Railways said several carriages of the first train fell across the adjacent track after the derailment in the Ghotki district.

The second train, coming from the other direction, then smashed into them.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, on Twitter, expressed his shock over the "horrific" accident and was ordering a comprehensive investigation into railway safety.

Train system under pressure

The country’s railway network is more than 165 years old and accidents on the system are common.

Many of the train carriages are over 40 years old and are often overcrowded.

Pakistan Railways’ data shows that there were 727 train accidents between 2012 and 2017.

In 2005, around 130 people were killed in the same district when a crowded passenger train slammed into another at a station and a third train hit the wreckage.

For years successive governments have been trying to secure financing to upgrade the network.