One dead, several injured as passenger train derails near Lodhran station

LODHRAN: A man was killed and several others sustained serious injuries when at least four carriages of a passenger train derailed near Lodhran railway station on Sunday, according to the city's Assistant Commissioner Iram Shahzadi.

Lodhran Deputy Commissioner Dr Lubna Nazir said that the accident left at least 19 passengers injured, who were pulled from the damaged coaches and rushed to Bahawal Victoria Hospital.

"At the hospital, a critically injured passenger succumbed to his injuries," she said, adding that two other passengers were still fighting for their lives.

The government official said rescue teams evacuated other passengers trapped inside the carriages.

"The exact cause of the accident is still unknown," according to the DC Lodhran.

The train was travelling from Peshawar to Karachi at the time of the derailment, the government official said, adding that "train traffic on both up and down tracks is now running normally."

Last month, a blast on the railway track near Shikarpur caused three coaches of the Jaffar Express to derail, leaving one passenger injured and disrupting train operations in the area.

The blast’s impact threw multiple coaches off the track, suspending the railway operations on the affected route.

In June, five bogies of the Jaffar Express jumped the rails after a blast hit the track near Jacobabad. The train was en route from Peshawar to Quetta.

The explosion damaged the railway line, disrupting train services in the area; however, no casualties were reported, they added.