Dozens die in Pakistan train derailment

An express train crowded with holiday travelers derailed in southern Pakistan early today, killing more than 50 people and injuring many more, officials said.

The train was traveling from Karachi to Lahore when about 12 of its 16 cars went off the rails near Mehrabpur, about 250 miles north of Karachi, the officials said. Hundreds of passengers were headed home for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Rescue workers recovered 58 bodies and said several of the injured were in critical condition. They brought in metal-cutting equipment to gain access to more of the wreckage, said rescue officials at the scene.

Dozens of passengers were still trapped in two carriages, and rescue workers were using gas cutters to break the metal wreckage and reach them, said David John, a supervisor with a private rescue group.

“We can hear women and children crying inside the two carriages,” John said by phone.

“I can see several carriages are quite a way from the track and I can hear screaming,” said a traveler, Mohammed Salim.

Azhar Ali Rajpar, a villager who heard the crash and rushed to the scene, said, “Almost all of the carriages were destroyed.”

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

Mohammed Khalid, a railway official who was in one of the rear cars that stayed on the rails, said he suspected a problem with the track, possibly sabotage.

Mehrabpur Mayor Farooq Ahmed Lodhi said about 80 people injured in the crash were taken to the city’s hospital.

“People from villages near the scene have brought food, water and blankets for victims of the accident,” Lodhi said.

Maqsoodun Nabi, a police official in Karachi, said the train was carrying about 700 passengers, including a large wedding party that had booked a special car.

Deadly accidents are a regular occurrence on Pakistan’s colonial-era railway network.

A speeding train struck a crowded bus at a railway crossing near Lahore in October, killing 12 people and injuring about 50 others. About 130 people died in July 2005 when three trains collided in southern Pakistan.