Updated on 12:30 a.m. February 29, 2020:
According to the latest reports, at least 30 people are reported dead in the accident. A faulty rail crossing gate is reportedly the reason for the accident, where a passenger train rammed into a bus near Rohri station in Sukkur district in Pakistan's Sindh province.
The search parameter has been expanded to a 1 kilometer for the rescue of stranded passengers. Dozens of injuries have also been reported and they have been shifted to Taluka Hospital and Civil Hospital Sukkur, the commissioner said.
In response to the tragic incident, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed shock and grief over the loss of lives in the accident.
"Train accidents are a question mark over the federal government's performance," Bilawal's spokesperson was quoted as saying. "After how many accidents will Imran Khan, who used to talk about resignations after a single accident happened, go home?"
Original article...
In a terrible tragedy, a bus carrying loads of passengers got rammed by a train near Rohri station in Sukkur district of Pakistan's Sindh province. As per the latest reports, 15 people have died while more than 30 are critically injured.
A Deputy Commissioner of Pakistan government, while talking to a Pakistani news channel, reported that 12 dead bodies have reached them while a lot more people are being treated for injuries at a nearby hospital.
Rohri station is a major railway junction which connects Karachi-Peshawar line with Rohri-Chaman route. The Pakistan Express train which was involved in this tragedy hit the passenger bus at a crossing known as Kandhra. Pictures have emerged from the accident side showing severely injured passengers as well as mangled remains of the bus.
Bus accidents, unfortunately, have become too common in Pakistan. 17 people had died in a bus accident in Kohistan in late 2018. However, whether this accident was caused by the fault of the bus driver or bad management of the crossing by railways is yet to be determined.
In the first official reaction to the tragedy, a minister in the provincial government of Sindh has said he is "deeply saddened to learn" about the accident.
