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jonathan95 Delta Prime
Joined: 29 Oct 2002 Posts: 1544 Location: UK Newcastle
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Wed Jul 13, 2005 1:25 am Over 100 killed in Pakistan crash |
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Taken from BBC
Quote: | Over 100 killed in Pakistan crash
A major train collision in southern Pakistan has left at least 120 dead, local police say.
The dawn incident near the town of Ghotki in Sindh province involved three passenger express trains.
At least 13 train carriages have been derailed. "It is a very gruesome situation," said local police official Aga Mohammed Tahir.
The general manager of Pakistan Railways said the crash was caused by a train conductor misreading a signal.
I was sleeping... I woke up at the noise of a huge bang and then there was [a] big jerk and smoke all over the place
Mohammad Amin, passenger
"It's a painful scene. There are bodies scattered all over. People are crying, fathers are looking for children, husbands for their wives and brothers for their sisters," an unnamed witness told the AFP news agency.
One express slammed into the back of a stationary train, and a third train ploughed into derailed coaches.
Carnage
Abdul Aziz, a senior controller at Pakistan Railways, told the Associated Press that the incident happened at about 0400 (2300 GMT Tuesday) on the border between the provinces of Sindh and Punjab, when most of the passengers were sleeping.
Officials said the Karachi Express ran into the rear of broken down Quetta Express at a station near Ghotki, about 600km (370 miles) north-east of the city of Karachi.
A third train travelling in the opposite direction - the Tezgam Express - then hit a number of derailed carriages, which were scattered over several tracks.
Abdul Wahab Awan, general manager of Pakistan Railways, said the conductor of the Karachi Express had failed to read a signal correctly.
"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," he told The Associated Press.
Mr Tahir was quoted as saying that rescuers began pulling out the dead and injured out of the trains.
"There were many people inside and there are lot of casualties," the police official said.
He said body parts were strewn across the site amid piles of twisted steel and that rescuers had to cut through metal to get to the injured.
An injured passenger Mohammad Amin said he was sleeping when the accident occurred.
"I woke up at the noise of a huge bang and then there was [a] big jerk and smoke all over the place," Mr Amin told Reuters.
"There was total darkness... I hit the floor and fainted."
The BBC's Zaffar Abbas in Karachi says this is one of the worst train accidents in recent years. |
not a very nice thing, I can imagin. Its amazing how people can misread things when liives depend on them watching what they are doing.
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Birdy Socialist
Joined: 20 Sep 2004 Posts: 13502 Location: Here.
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Wed Jul 13, 2005 7:43 am |
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A hundred!? I didn't know that... That's just horrible. Especially in low developed places like that, were people hang out and are on top of the train. Don't know if that was the case in this situation though.
It's sad that we're so developing robots and spaceshuttles, but we can't get those people to use good trains and learn them that you can't make mistakes in this kinda situations.
-------signature-------
Nosce te ipsum
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webtaz99 Commodore
Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 1229 Location: The Other Side
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Wed Jul 13, 2005 12:29 pm |
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When the US carried out its nuclear weapons development, at least we kept some money in the civilian sector to make our trains (somewhat) safer. That's what they get for playing "one-up" with India.
-------signature-------
"History is made at night! Character is who you are in the dark." (Lord John Whorfin)
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madlilnerd Duchess of Dancemat
Joined: 03 Aug 2004 Posts: 5885 Location: Slough, England
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Wed Jul 13, 2005 12:54 pm |
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Wow, that's bad. If people could afford to sit inside the train instead of on top of it, I bet less would have died. It's sad, really.
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