Passenger Train Derails in Pakistan, Killing Five
An early morning derailment in Punjab province also left 35 people injured, officials said.
A passenger train derailed in central Pakistan early Tuesday, killing five people and injuring 35 others, police and a Pakistan Railways spokesman confirmed.
The train was traveling from the southern port city of Karachi to the northwestern city of Peshawar when it derailed in Sher Shah city in Punjab province, railway spokesman Kaleem Akhtar said.
Rescuers recovered four bodies at the scene and evacuated the injured from the train's 14 cars. An additional person died before they could be transported to a hospital, according to rescue officials. Emergency responders and paramedics were dispatched to the scene.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief in separate statements and urged authorities to provide the best possible medical care to the injured.
Train accidents are relatively common in Pakistan, where the railway system has suffered from decades of underinvestment, outdated tracks and aging signal systems. In 2023, ten cars of a passenger train derailed in southern Pakistan, killing 30 people and injuring more than 90 others.