Islamabad, March 25 – As many as 26 passengers were injured after seven coaches of a Tezgam train bound for Karachi derailed near the Adam Wahan Railway Station on the Bahawalpur-Lodhran section in Punjab province, Pakistan, local media reported on Wednesday.
Five coaches of the train, traveling from Lahore to Karachi, overturned on Tuesday night. Following the incident, Lodhran Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hafiz, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Liaquat Gilani, the DPO, and Rescue 1122 officials rushed to the site to conduct a rescue operation, according to Dawn, Pakistan's leading daily.
Some of the passengers trapped in the five overturned coaches were being rescued. Pakistan Railways' PRO Kaleem Ahmed said that no deaths were reported in the incident, and the injured were receiving medical aid from the rescuers. Lodhra Rescue 1122 media coordinator Muhammad Safdar said that 26 passengers were injured in the incident.
He said, "Of these, 17 received first aid on the spot, while the remaining nine, including a woman, were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) in Lodhran, where one of the injured was in critical condition."
Lodhran ADC Liaquat Gilani said that nine passengers were taken to the DHQ hospital for treatment, while the rest received first aid on the spot. Speaking to Dawn, he said that the wards at the Lodhran DHQ Hospital, with a capacity of 35 beds, had been reserved for the victims of the train accident.
The Pakistan Railways spokesperson has not mentioned the reason for the train's derailment. The spokesperson said that the cause of the derailment will be determined after an investigation, which has been ordered by railway officials.
However, some eyewitnesses claimed that the couplers between the coaches broke, splitting the train into two parts, Dawn reported. After the train was divided into two parts, five of the seven coaches attached to the engine derailed. Authorities have suspended railway traffic on the affected track, and a relief train has been sent from Samasatta railway junction.