Wednesday, July 13 2005 15:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: In the worst train disaster in Pakistan in a decade, three passenger trains collided at a station in Sindh province killing at least 107 and injuring hundreds other.

Police feared that the number of deaths in the accident that took place at 4.30 a.m. IST near remote Ghotki town, about 600 kms from Karachi, could cross 300 as many passengers were still trapped in the badly mangled and twisted bogies.

A massive rescue operation was on with the help of the army which has also pressed six helicopters to ferry the injured to nearby hospitals.

With Railway officials blaming the driver of the Karachi Express for 'misreading' a signal, President Pervez Musharraf ordered an inquiry into the accident.

The Quetta Express was carrying passengers from Lahore in Punjab to Quetta when it developed a technical problem and stopped at Sarhad station.

Technicians were working on the train when the Karachi Express, a night-coach from Lahore to Karachi ran into it.

The impact pushed cars onto an adjacent track where they were hit by the oncoming Tezgam Express, which was taking passengers from Karachi, situated to the north of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.

A train carrying 800 passengers from Karachi to Lahore ran into a parked freight train at Ghotki on June 8, 1991, killing more than 100 people.

In December 1989, a train crash near Sangi, a town 60 kms from Ghotki, killed 400 people.

Over 300 killed in Pakistan's worst train accident

13:09 Hrs (IST)

Over 300 people were killed and hundreds other injured in Pakistan's worst ever rail accident as three passenger trains collided early today (July 13, 2005) at Sarhad station about 600 kms from Karachi in Sindh province.

Police officials said the death toll could be over 300, Pakistan's NNI news agency reported.

Pakistan Railways Chairman, Shakil Durrani, told the state-run PTV, "at least 13 train carriages were derailed and damaged in the incident."

"Karachi Express from Lahore collided into the stationary Quetta Express at Sarhad station at around 4:30 a.m. IST derailing at least 13 bogies," he said.

Some bogies tossed up in the air and fell on the adjoining track. The Tezgam Express passing through Sarhad station around the same time hit the debris and derailed subsequently, Durrani said.

Pakistan Railways General Manager, Abdul Bhav, told PTV that 107 people were confirmed dead and a few derailed bogies were being opened to extricate more bodies and to rescue those trapped.

Most of the passengers were fast asleep when the accident took place.

Durrani said investigations have been ordered to know the cause of the accident but another railway official said human error had led to the collision.

The official said the conductor of the Karachi Express had failed to correctly read a signal at Sarhad railway station.