At least four killed, several injured after passenger train derails in Pakistan's Punjab

Bound for Peshawar, the train met with an accident, which was confirmed by Pakistan's Minister for Railways, Hanif Abbasi, who verified the fatalities among passengers.

As reported by Pakistan's leading daily Dawn, Abbasi has designated the federal government inspector of railways (FGIR) to serve as the inquiry officer leading the investigation into the incident.

Locopilot Rizwan Abbas recounted that the train was operating at 100 kilometres per hour when he abruptly experienced a jolt while passing through the Sher Shah station area.

Abbas noted that he applied the emergency brakes to bring the train to a halt.

"When I got out of the locomotive and looked back, I saw that the passenger coaches had derailed and were lying off the tracks. It was horrible," Dawn quoted Abbas as saying.

The nation has documented multiple train derailment incidents over the past year, prompting concerns regarding potential negligence and systemic vulnerabilities within Pakistan Railways (PR) concerning the upkeep of rolling stock and rail infrastructure nationwide.

On October 1, two passenger services, namely the Shalimar Express and Pakistan Express, narrowly avoided major accidents after derailing.

Earlier in August, one individual was killed and at least 24 passengers were injured when four carriages of the Awam Express, operating between Peshawar and Karachi, derailed near Lodhran railway station in Pakistan.

Lodhran Deputy Commissioner (DC) Lubna Nazir stated that the injured included 16 men, four women and three children, as reported by Geo News.

In July, three coaches of the Jaffar Express derailed following an explosion along the railway track near Shikarpur in Sindh, resulting in one passenger being injured and disrupting train services in the area.

Several carriages derailed as a consequence of the blast, disrupting railway operations along the affected route. (ANI)