At least 15 killed and 50 injured as train derails in Pakistan

At least 15 people have been killed and dozens injured after a train derailed in south-east Pakistan while on it’s way from Karachi to Rawalpindi on Sunday.

Railways Divisional Superintendent Sukkur Mahmoodur Rahman told local media that 10 train carriages were derailed in the crash, which happened in Nawabshah.

The death toll is feared to rise as the train is said to have carried a large number of passengers, Pakistan’s Geo TV reported.

A rescue operation is currently underway, officials told Radio Pakistan.

Ijaz Shah, a provincial railway official, told AFP that several passengers were killed and several others injured in the accident, and that a relief train has been dispatched to the site.

Images posted to local media show dozens of people at the site, with some smashing windows to help passengers clamber out of the twisted carriages and at least one coach overturned.

Rail accidents are not uncommon in Pakistan.

More than 60 people were killed in a train crash in 2021, when a train derailed and was later hit by another oncoming express service. Also, several people were wounded in January, when a bomb blast derailed a train in Balochistan province.