lawyerlee
07-12-2005, 10:04 PM
At least 100 die in Pakistan crash (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/07/12/pakistan.trainsmash/index.html) CNN
LAHORE, Pakistan -- Three trains have collided in southern Pakistan Wednesday morning, killing at least 100 people and injuring 800 more, police and railway officials have said.
At least 17 train cars were destroyed in the accident that occurred at 3:40 a.m. local time (22:40 Tuesday GMT).
Police, army and paramilitary forces are assisting in the rescue operation and area hospitals are on emergency notice.
The Chairman of Pakistan railways, Shakil Durani, told CNN there were about 3,000 passengers on the three trains.
The Associated Press reports senior rail officials as blaming human error for the disaster.
Abdul Wahab Awan, general manager of Pakistan Railways, said officials on the scene had told him more than 100 people were dead, and hundreds more injured.
He blamed the conductor of one of the trains, the Karachi Express, for misreading a signal.
"The crash occurred because of misreading of a signal by the driver of Karachi Express and it rammed the Quetta Express, which was not moving," Awan told AP.
That crash caused several carriages to derail which were then hit by a third train, the oncoming Tezgam Express, which was taking passengers from Karachi north to Rawalpindi, near the capital of Islamabad.
The Karachi Express is a night-coach passenger train that brings people from the city of Lahore to the southern port city of Karachi.
Ghotki is about 600 kilometers (370 miles) northeast of Karachi, in remote Sindh province.
Pakistan's railways are antiquated, and dozens of people have been killed in train accidents in recent years.
On March 5, five people were killed and 25 injured when a passenger train derailed in eastern Punjab province.
On September 20, 2003, a train ploughed into a packed bus in central Pakistan, killing at least 27 people and injuring six others.
Accidents are often blamed on faulty equipment or human error.
LAHORE, Pakistan -- Three trains have collided in southern Pakistan Wednesday morning, killing at least 100 people and injuring 800 more, police and railway officials have said.
At least 17 train cars were destroyed in the accident that occurred at 3:40 a.m. local time (22:40 Tuesday GMT).
Police, army and paramilitary forces are assisting in the rescue operation and area hospitals are on emergency notice.
The Chairman of Pakistan railways, Shakil Durani, told CNN there were about 3,000 passengers on the three trains.
The Associated Press reports senior rail officials as blaming human error for the disaster.
Abdul Wahab Awan, general manager of Pakistan Railways, said officials on the scene had told him more than 100 people were dead, and hundreds more injured.
He blamed the conductor of one of the trains, the Karachi Express, for misreading a signal.
"The crash occurred because of misreading of a signal by the driver of Karachi Express and it rammed the Quetta Express, which was not moving," Awan told AP.
That crash caused several carriages to derail which were then hit by a third train, the oncoming Tezgam Express, which was taking passengers from Karachi north to Rawalpindi, near the capital of Islamabad.
The Karachi Express is a night-coach passenger train that brings people from the city of Lahore to the southern port city of Karachi.
Ghotki is about 600 kilometers (370 miles) northeast of Karachi, in remote Sindh province.
Pakistan's railways are antiquated, and dozens of people have been killed in train accidents in recent years.
On March 5, five people were killed and 25 injured when a passenger train derailed in eastern Punjab province.
On September 20, 2003, a train ploughed into a packed bus in central Pakistan, killing at least 27 people and injuring six others.
Accidents are often blamed on faulty equipment or human error.