Passenger rail service in southern Pakistan was partially restored on Monday following a train derailment that killed 30 people and injured many others. Funerals were being held for the victims of the crash.
A total of 27 bodies have been identified and handed over to their relatives for burial, while three bodies are still awaiting identification, according to Dr. Aqeel Ahmed Qureshi of a hospital in Nawabshah in Sindh province.
While funerals took place, dozens of injured individuals remained in the hospital. Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq stated that an investigation into the train accident had been initiated by engineers.
“Unfortunately,” Rafiq said to reporters, “we lack sufficient funds to properly maintain our aging railway tracks, and yesterday’s train crash seems to have occurred as a result.”
The derailment of the Hazara Express train occurred on Sunday, causing 10 cars to go off the tracks near the Sarhari railway station. Train traffic was suspended, and work on the main line is still ongoing, according to Baloch.
Engineers were seen clearing the railway track on Monday, with full restoration of rail service expected. Many passengers who were waiting for the train service to resume from Karachi to the eastern Punjab province expressed their frustration after the crash.
Military and paramilitary troops provided assistance to rescue workers in extracting trapped passengers. The most severely injured individuals were airlifted by military helicopters to distant hospitals for better treatment.
Train accidents in Pakistan are often the result of inadequate railway infrastructure and negligence by officials. In 2021, 65 people lost their lives in Sindh province when two trains collided in the district of Ghotki. In 1990, the deadliest rail disaster in the country’s history occurred when a packed passenger train crashed into a stationary freight train in southern Pakistan, claiming the lives of 210 people.
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