At least 30 people have died in a train derailment in Pakistan. About 80 other passengers were injured in the incident in the southern province of Sindh, reported the broadcaster Geo TV on Sunday. More fatalities were feared. Ten wagons derailed. Rescue workers rushed to the scene of the accident near the city of Nawabshah. About 1000 passengers traveled on the train in 17 compartments.
Pakistan’s Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said the train went off the rails at low speed. “It would be premature to talk about the cause of the accident, which could be mechanical failure or an act of terrorism,” Rafique said. A state of emergency has been declared in hospitals in the region. The military was also deployed to the region to support the rescue operation.
Fatal train accidents are not uncommon in Pakistan. The tracks were laid around a century ago under British colonial rule and have hardly been renewed since then. Aside from aging railroad tracks, bombings and weak security measures have been the causes of hundreds of deaths in train accidents in the South Asian country in the past.
