A police spokesman verified that at least 30 people were killed and 100 were injured when a train derailed in southern Pakistan.
Several carriages of the Hazara Express toppled near the Sahara railway station in Nawabshah, roughly 275 kilometers (171 miles) from Karachi, Pakistan’s largest metropolis.
Passengers who were injured were sent to local hospitals. Rescue workers are attempting to extract victims from the mangled wreckage.
Accidents are common on Pakistan’s old railway system.
Social media videos showed hundreds of people at the disaster site, with some passengers scrambling out of the wrecked carriages.
One survivor told BBC Urdu that he saw several mothers and children laying on the ground.
“They were screaming and yelling. I had no idea what to do. “I filled my hands with water from a nearby canal and poured it on the faces of those who were unconscious, hoping they would wake up,” Naseer Ahmed explained.
Nasser said he survived the crash because he “fell out the window when the train derailed.”
Aslam, who was on the train with his son, said, “We were sleeping when suddenly the carriage came down and [it felt like] the apocalypse.”
Initial investigations revealed that the train was traveling at normal speed, and officials were attempting to determine what caused the crash. He speculated that it could be the result of a mechanical failure or sabotage.
Authorities have denied allegations that the track had been inundated.
According to a railways spokeswoman in Karachi, at least eight carriages left the track.
He stated that military and paramilitary forces, as well as rescue professionals, were on the site and assisted in the rescue of individuals trapped within the railway carriages.
Military helicopters carried the most badly injured passengers to distant, better-equipped hospitals.
According to officials, rescue operations were concluded in the early evening of Sunday.
The main hospitals in Nawabshah and neighboring Sindh districts have declared an emergency.
Train services to Sindh’s interior areas have been halted.
According to Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon, the government’s primary priority is “the rescue work, which we are completely focused on.”
Two trains crashed in Sindh province in 2021, killing at least 40 people and wounding scores more.
According to local media accounts, 150 people perished in such situations between 2013 and 2019.