RAWALPINDI (Web Desk / AFP) – At least thirteen people including driver were killed and more than hundred passengers sustained injuries when five bogies of Jaffar Express derailed in Balochistan’s Bolan district on Tuesday, Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said.
The train was travelling from the southwestern city of Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, to the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The accident occurred after the train’s brakes failed as it sped down the side of a mountain, officials told AFP.
Four carriages and train engine were completely destroyed in the tragic incident.
Akbar Hussain Durrani, home secretary of Balochistan, said a rescue and relief operation had begun and officials had already arrived on the scene.
The army has joined rescue operation and will use heavy machinery to free victims, while a quick response force from the paramilitary Frontier Corps has also been deployed, authorities said.
A military spokesman in Quetta said that 26 seriously injured passengers were airlifted to hospital in two MI-17 helicopters.
Railway officials said the train was carrying around 300 passengers.
"Among the dead so far confirmed, five are passengers, two drivers of the train and two members of the railway police," Durrani said.
The incident comes five months after a special train carrying troops and military equipment derailed and fell from Chanawan Bridge in the eastern province of Punjab, killing more than fifteen army men.
The incident occurred near the eastern town of Wazirabad as the train carried soldiers from southern Sindh province to the garrison town of Kharian.
Train accidents are common in Pakistan, where tracks and bridges are often poorly maintained and where drivers often disregard speed limits.
Pakistan inherited thousands of miles of track and trains from the former colonial power, Britain, but the railways have seen decades of decline due to corruption, mismanagement and under-investment.
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