ISLAMABAD/MEHRABPUR, 20 December 2007 — The Lahore-bound Karachi Express met an accident near Sukkar yesterday and 14 bogies careened off the railway track causing the death of at least 58 people and injuring more than 150 others.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed 40 deaths in the tragedy near Mehrabpur in Naushero Feroz district of Sindh.
According to ISPR, the accident occurred between Mehrabpur and Lakha Road in the early morning. At least 14 bogies of the train plowed their way onto the ground.
According to the statement, receiving the news of accident, medical aid crew and engineers, including Pakistan Army soldiers from Panu Aqil Cantonment, arrived on the spot and began the rescue operation.
The express train crowded with holiday travelers was traveling from Karachi toward Lahore when about 14 of its 16 carriages came off the rails near Mehrabpur, about 400 kilometers north of Karachi. It was unclear what caused the accident, which left hundreds of terrified passengers trying to claw their way out of the mangled wreckage in total darkness.
The train was loaded with an estimated 900 passengers, many of them heading home for the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha.
Rescuers brought 58 bodies to three nearby hospitals, said Mumtaz Ali, an official from the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan’s largest privately run emergency service. Col. Abbas Malik, an army doctor, said about 150 people were injured.
