At least 15 people, all of them Sikh pilgrims, died and 10 were injured on Friday in a collision between a train and their vehicle at a railway crossing in Sheikhupura city in Pakistan’s Punjab province, The Express Tribune reported. However, Dawn put the number of deceased at 20.
The pilgrims were from Peshawar and were on their way to Nankana Sahib. Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee Secretary General Sardar Amir Singh said the deceased belong to three or four families.
The accident took place around 1:30 pm local time (2 pm Indian Standard Time) at a crossing near Sheikhupura, Dawn reported. The Railways Ministry quickly suspended the divisional engineer. Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid ordered immediate action against those responsible for the accident.
Salahuddin, a senior police officer from Sheikhupura, said that 25 to 26 people had been travelling in the coaster. The victims included children. Salahuddin added that there were two more coaches that took a different route and were safe.
Initially, reports said the crossing was unmanned. However, Salahuddin said that the gate of the crossing was closed, and the driver of the coaster might have decided to take a shortcut instead of waiting for the crossing to reopen, which caused the collision.
Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed grief at the incident, and directed authorities to provide the best medical aid possible to the wounded, a tweet by his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf party said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his condolences.
Pakistan has seen many train accidents over the past few years. On July 11 last year, at least 14 people were killed and 79 injured after an express train collided with a freight train at the Walhar Railway Station in Pakistan’s Sadiqabad tehsil. According to The Express Tribune, there have been 384 train accidents in Pakistan since 2014.
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