Death toll from train derailment in Pakistan rises to 30 with 60 others injured, officials say

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — The death toll from a train derailment in southern Pakistan rose to 30, with the number of injured to 60, and rescue operations were underway, officials said Sunday.

Ten cars of a Rawalpindi-bound train got derailed, and some overturned, near the Pakistani town of Nawabshah trapping many passengers, said senior railway officer Mahmoodur Rehman Lakho.

Senior police officer, Abid Baloch — present at the scene of the accident— said that so far 30 bodies have been recovered while more than 60 people were injured, some critically. He added that the death toll may rise as rescue operations continue.

Baloch said women and children were among the dead and injured.

Local television showed rescue teams extracting women, children and elderly passengers from damaged and overturned cars. Some of the injured were lying on the ground crying for help while locals gave out water and food.

Lakho, who is in charge of railways in the accident area, said rescue crews took injured passengers to the nearby Peoples Hospital in Nawabshah. He said the ill-fated Hazara Express was on its way from Karachi to Rawalpindi when ten cars went off the tracks near the Sarhari railway station off Nawabshah.

Mohsin Sayal, another senior railway officer, said train traffic has been suspended on the main railway line as repair trains have been dispatched to the scene. Sayal said alternative travel arrangements and medical care will be made available for the train's passengers.

Minister for Railways, Khaja Saad Rafiq, said the crash could be due to a mechanical fault or the result of sabotage. He said an investigation was underway.

Train crashes often occurred on poorly maintained railways tracks in Pakistan where colonial-era communications and signal systems haven't been modernized and safety standards are poor.