A deadly collision of two passengers' trains on Thursday left at least 22 people dead and over 60 others injured near Landhi Railways Station, officials said. Both trains were en route to Karachi when a running Bahauddin Zakaria Express banged the stationed Farid Express in the rear at Juma Khan Goth near Landhi in the outskirts of the city, destroying three bogies and a railway engine.
The dead and injured passengers were rushed to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for medico-legal formalities and treatment, respectively. Some of the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals as well. The crash immediately brought the railways traffic to a suspension, causing other trains to delay their arrivals and departures.
It took hours to bring the heavy machinery to remove the debris of destroyed bogies and rescue the trapped passengers.
The rescue teams faced problems to carry out relief work as a large number of people had gathered at the site of the crash. Police tried to disperse them by baton-charge. Later, Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and other law enforcement agencies' personnel also arrived at the scene to control the mob to facilitate the rescue operation.
Federal Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique apprehended that driver of Zakaria Express might have been the possible cause of the incident. He said the drivers were first shown a yellow signal followed by red one, but the drivers ignored both signals, which apparently led to the deadly mishap. However he ordered an inquiry into the accident. The minister has also ordered the best treatment of the injured.
He announced compensation for families of victims and those injured. The minister said government would provided Rs 1500,000 to each family of the deceased and Rs 800,000 to each injured of the train accident. Earlier, he tweeted: "I am directly in contact with DS Railways, supervising the emergency activities. Really sad over loss of precious souls."
Witnesses were shaken to see the horror as one train rammed into the second stationed, with the roar of the crash swiftly followed by the screams of people stuck inside.
"At the moment, we don't know the exact number of casualties but there could be up to 1,000 passengers in both trains," Nasir Nazeer, Divisional Commercial Officer (DCO) told the media.
Seemi Jamali, head of emergency at JPMC, told the media that at least 17 people had died. Earlier she said the hospital had received some 50 wounded.
Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 22, and may rise as condition of many of the wounded was critical.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed deep grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives and prayed to rest departed souls in eternal peace. He also prayed for the swift recovery of the injured.
President Mamnoon Hussain was also grieved profoundly over the loss of precious lives in the tragic accident. He prayed for early recuperation of the injured. He commiserated with the bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls. Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed extreme sorrow over the death of innocent passengers and injuries to many others in the tragic accident.
He said that the Railway accidents could be averted with better management of signal systems and technical co-ordination. He expressed sympathy and condolence with those who lost their family members in the train collision and asked the hospital authorities for best medical treatment to those injured in the mishap.