In Pakistan, at least 30 individuals were killed, and 80 others were wounded when ten cars of the Hazara Express, located 275 kilometers west of Karachi, derailed at the Sahara Railway Station in the Sindh province. This happened on Sunday, Aug. 6, and fears of further injuries loom, as reported by Geo News.
Tragic Train Derailment
Police officials inspect the carriages at the accident site following the derailment of a passenger train in Nawabshah on August 6, 2023. At least 30 people were killed and dozens injured on August 6 when an express train derailed in southern Pakistan, government officials said.
Younis Chandio, the deputy inspector general of police in Benazirabad, said that nine out of ten derailed cars had been emptied of wounded and dead individuals.
Abbas Baloch, the commissioner of the Benazirabad district, confirmed in a statement that at least 30 people had been killed and that several passengers were still trapped in the train. An emergency had been declared in the hospitals in the area, and a relief train was on its way, he added.
According to Geo News, those at the scene and the local authorities have taken the injured to the Nawabshah People's Medical Hospital, which has a capacity of around a thousand patients. Because the doomed train is said to carry more passengers than its cars can hold, authorities expect significant casualties and property damage.
It has been reported that it might take up to 18 hours to resume train service to and from the interior areas of Sindh after operations were paused due to the train collision.
Multiple administrations in Pakistan have spent years attempting to raise money to improve the country's deteriorating rail network as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative for infrastructure projects, but accidents on the aging system remain a persistent problem.
It has not been determined what actually caused the train to derail.
According to the senior superintendent of police, the train derailed in district Sanghar on its journey from Karachi to Havelian. The train had 17 bogies and could have carried up to 950 people in economy class and 72 in the air-conditioned standard coach.
More than a hundred police officers are assisting with the rescue efforts, he claimed, including ten station house officers (SHO), four district superintendents of police (DSP), and a captain.
During a news conference, Federal Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique claimed that the disaster might have been "deliberately" committed by a human or could have resulted from a technical failure.
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Similar Accidents in Different Countries
Although train derailments are very uncommon, accidents involving collisions and other causes nevertheless occur sometimes.
Earlier in June, At least 100 persons were hurt after two trains crashed in India. A passenger train was involved in the accident. It derailed and crossed over into the other track, colliding head-on with a freight train.
Days later, another shocking railway accident report has come to light.
Reportedly, 21 people were killed, and more than 50 were injured when a passenger train crashed in Iran. Four of the train's seven cars had derailed in the wee hours of the morning in the desert city of Tabas, situated around 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Tehran.
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