The death toll from Thursday’s train collision in Sadiqabad rose to 24, as a woman also succumbed to her injuries during treatment at Sheikh Zaid Hospital. Earlier in the day, bodies of a child and a man were found from the rubble.
A day earlier, the Akbar Bugti Express travelling from Lahore to Quetta collided with a stationary freight train at the Walhar Railway Station in Sadiqabad tehsil of Punjab.
The freight train was standing on the loop line when the passenger train, instead of running on the mainline, went on the wrong track. The accident saw carriages derail while the engine of the passenger train was completely destroyed.
Rescuers used cranes to enable them to pick through some of the twisted wreckage to find the bodies.
According to officials, rescuers have pulled out all the dead and injured from the wreckage and they are now focusing on clearing the track. Work to clear the track will continue today.
An initial investigation report into the accident said the failure of the signal system behind the Akbar Bugti Express crashing into the stationary freight train.
Meanwhile, Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad said that the trains’ collision in Sadiqabad occurred due to human negligence. Talking to a private news channel, the minister said that in the light of the inquiry report, those responsible would be punished. He announced that Rs 1.5 million would be given as compensation for each deceased, Rs 500,000 to those critically injured and Rs 200,000 each to those receiving minor injuries.
