Three passenger trains collided in a devastating night-time disaster at a station in southern Pakistan yesterday, killing up to 150 people and injuring hundreds, officials said.
The driver of one express misread a signal and ploughed into a stationary train full of sleeping passengers near the remote town of Ghotki, then a third train slammed head-on into the wreckage, according to railway officials.
Twelve hours after the crash rescuers were still pulling bodies from the mangled carriages of the three trains, which lay scattered amid piles of debris and pieces of flesh.
"We heard a big explosion and several coaches overturned. As the people in our train were screaming and shouting there was another deafening explosion. The situation was so tragic," injured survivor Mohammad Ahmed told reporters.
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf ordered an urgent investigation and promised to punish those responsible for the pre-dawn pile-up, the country's worst in 15 years.
"It's a tragic accident, I am deeply saddened I express my condolences," he told state television. "It was not sabotage, it appears to have been caused by some carelessness."
Musharraf said 107 people were confirmed dead but Chaudhry Nazir Ahmed, divisional superintendent of Pakistan Railways, said that about 150 had been killed.
Local hospitals reported that 132 bodies had been brought in so far, with more thought to be in the wreckage, while officials said between 150 and 250 were injured, 50 critically. Many of the victims were women and children.
The accident happened when one of the trains, the Quetta Express, stopped for repairs at Sarhad station, 7km from Ghotki, and the Karachi Express coming from Lahore smashed into it at 4am.
A number of carriages were catapulted onto a parallel track and a third train, the Tez Gam Express heading for Islamabad's twin city Rawalpindi, then careered into them.
Railway officials blamed the Karachi Express driver for misreading a signal at Sarhad station that turned green to allow the Quetta Express to move off.
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