MULTAN, 21 September 2003 — A passenger train slammed into a bus that was driving over an unguarded level crossing in central Pakistan yesterday, killing at least 27 passengers and injuring six others, officials said.
A spokesman for Pakistan’s main emergency relief agency, the Edhi Foundation, said 35 people were killed in the crash. However, Pakistan Railways General Manager Aurungzeb Khan said the death toll stood at 27.
The accident occurred in Malikwal town in Punjab province, about 150 km (90 miles) south of Islamabad, local police chief Waqar Haider said.
The dead — three children and 24 men — and the wounded were all on the bus, he said. Two of the six injured were in critical condition, a doctor said.
A local resident said the bus was torn to pieces.
“I saw blood and human parts scattered everywhere,” Javed Nawaz said. “The bus looked like a skeleton.”
He said dozens of residents rushed to the crash site to try to pull survivors from the wreckage. Police later came and took away the dead and injured.
Pervez Ahmad, a doctor at Mandi Bhawaldin Hospital, told The Associated Press that hundreds of people had gathered outside the hospital to identify bodies and pray for the injured.
Haider, the police chief, said the level crossing did not have a gate or lights to warn vehicles of oncoming trains.
Residents said they have often urged the railways to install a protective gate at the crossing, warning that an accident at the site was likely. The train was traveling between the towns of Lalamusa and Sargodha.
Pakistan’s railway system is antiquated and accidents are relatively common. In the last two years, hundreds of people have died in crashes. Critics of the government accuse authorities of not spending enough money to maintain the trains and tracks.
