On Sunday afternoon, several bogies of the Hazara Express derailed close to the Sarhari Railway Station near Nawabshah in Pakistan, resulting in at least 30 fatalities and numerous injuries, dawn.com reported.
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Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who spoke to the media at Peoples Medical College Hospital in Benazirabad — the district home to Nawabshah, confirmed the death toll.
He added that the injured could be shifted to Karachi if needed and directed the local administration and health officials to expedite relief and rescue efforts.
The hospital’s deputy medical superintendent, Dr Riaz Ahmed Umrani, also confirmed to Dawn.com that 30 bodies had been brought to the facility.
“Of these 30 bodies, 21 have been handed over to the heirs and the remaining nine are in hospital. Two of these are remains of a body that have been kept in cold storage,” he said.
According to the list of the deceased shared by him, all of the bodies have been identified except the remains kept in the cold storage.
Meanwhile, Shaheed Benazirabad District Health Officer Dr Asadullah Dahiri said that at least 72 people were injured in the accident.
According to Railways and Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, the accident occurred at 1:18pm and around 1,000 passengers were travelling in the Hazara Express.
Earlier, Pakistan Railways Sukkur Divisional Commercial Officer (DCO) Mohsin Siyal said that an unknown number of bogies had derailed in the incident.
“Some people are reporting that five bogies had derailed, some are saying eight have derailed and some are saying 10 have derailed,” he said.
DawnNewsTV reported that the train was headed to Rawalpindi from Karachi.
Footage aired on TV showed a large number of passengers gathered near the derailed bogies, some of which were laying on their sides.
