Home TRENDING TEN CARS OF THE HAZARA EXPRESS DERAILED, CAUSING 35 DEATHS AND 100...

TEN CARS OF THE HAZARA EXPRESS DERAILED, CAUSING 35 DEATHS AND 100 INJURIES.

TEN CARS OF THE HAZARA EXPRESS DERAILED, CAUSING 35 DEATHS AND 100 INJURIES.

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HYDERABAD:
At least 35 people were killed and about 100 were injured on Sunday when the Hazara Express was involved in a fatal accident near the Sarhari railway station in the Sanghar area, according to rescuers.

Carriages are being lifted by cranes at the accident site near the town of Sarhari. PHOTO: AFP

About 1.5 kilometers from the station, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and local authorities notified the media that 10 bogies of the Hazara Express derailed over Dadwah, a fresh water distributary.

The train left Karachi with about 1,100 people on board and had 19 cars, or “bogies.” Near the rural town of Sarhari, around 30 kilometers from Nawabshah, an accident happened at quarter past one.

The force of the catastrophe was so great that it tore the rails out of the earth. The Edhi Foundation reported transporting 35 remains to a hospital in Nawabshah, whereas Shah, who visited the spot, stated 30 people had died.

Nawabshah Division Commissioner Muhammad Abbas Baloch disagreed with the suspicions of Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and the train’s driver, who both suspected sabotage.

The collision site, according to eyewitnesses, was a horrific scene. They claimed that bodies were strewn outside the train, with some lying on the track in bits and others having fallen to the ground or landed in a river.

Hundreds of bystanders and survivors began extracting those still trapped in derailed bogies long before official rescuers and law enforcement authorities arrived on the scene.

Since 2020, the Metro has carried a total of 100 million commuters.

Several hours of rescue work were put in by the army, local police, Rangers, and volunteers. Other cities sent ambulances and medical personnel to the scene.

Twenty ambulances, four of which were equipped with ventilators, were sent from Hyderabad to the nearest hospitals, according to the officials.

Commuters between Nawabshah and the upcountry areas resumed their travel even though trains from the upcountry to Karachi were stopped all day.

Both Chief Minister Shah and Major General Dilawar Khan, who is in charge of the Hyderabad Garrison, observed the rescue efforts at the scene of the tragedy.

“The passengers from nine bogies have been pulled out, but efforts are still being made to clear the tenth bogie,” the chief minister told the reporters shortly before sundown.

According to what Shah heard from the railways minister, relief trains from the Rohri and Kotri railway stations in the Sukkur and Jamshoro areas were able to remove the bogie using the machinery on board.

He reported that he had ordered the local authorities to divulge the names of the dead as soon as possible so that hundreds of other grieving families may get closure.

I visited the hospitalized victims and asked after their condition. He revealed, somewhat downtrodden, that his patients’ loved ones’ absence was the most frequently voiced issue.

However, the Edhi Foundation later reported that its ambulances had transported 35 bodies to the Peoples Medical University (PMU) Hospital in Nawabshah, despite the chief minister’s initial estimate of 30 fatalities.

The chief minister had requested that a full list of the dead be made public by Sunday night, but it was not possible to do so. Only about a dozen of the confirmed passenger deaths were identified.

Eleven people from Sanghar and three from Ghotki were killed. The PMU Hospital said that 51 of the injured were hospitalised, while the others were sent to neighboring places including Sanghar.

More than a dozen kids were hurt, too. The PMU Hospital also performed amputations on some patients. By the time it was dark, 38 injured passengers had been brought to the PMU Hospital.

Engine driver Rashid Minhas reportedly informed authorities that he was traveling at 50 kilometers per hour when the bogies suddenly flipped over.

They quoted the driver as saying, “The speed limit on this track is 105 kilometres per hour but the train was moving at 50,” and “I did not see any problem on the tracks that could derail the bogies.”

The officials said they believe sabotage was to blame for the train’s sudden derailment. “The way we felt a sudden jolt in the engine pointed towards it,” the driver was reported as saying by an official.

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