Home>News Center>World
             
     

    Pakistanis hunt for missing relatives after train disaster
    (Agencies)
    Updated: 2005-07-15 09:38

    Relatives desperately sought news of their loved ones as medical workers struggled to identify mangled corpses a day after around 150 people died in Pakistan's worst train crash in 15 years.

    Stations across the country have been thronged with people frantically searching victim lists posted by the authorities after the three-train pile-up early Wednesday near the southern town of Ghotki.

    Thousands of others travelling in buses, trains and trucks flocked to hospitals near the crash site, where for some, severed body parts held the answer they had been dreading.

    Pakistani soldiers and civilian volunteers search for survivors and bodies within a mangled carriage after a train crash in Ghotki.
    Pakistani soldiers and civilian volunteers search for survivors and bodies within a mangled carriage after a train crash in Ghotki.[AFP]
    "I can recognise his feet and hands," said sobbing Allah Ditta, who came to Ghotki hospital from Bhawalpur, a town in central Punjab province, to search for his missing brother.

    A senior rail official told AFP Wednesday that 150 people had died, while doctors at the hospital said 164 people were killed. A Pakistan railways press release would only confirm 138 deaths.

    Officials said they were trying to identify nearly 100 unclaimed bodies, which lay shrouded by white sheets in the courtyard of the small government hospital nearly 36 hours after the collision.

    Ice-blocks and fans were used to cool the bodies because of the lack of a nearby mortuary.

    "We have so far handed 37 bodies to their relatives but 96 bodies are still lying at the hospital as their identification has not yet been established," railway police officer Shafi Mohammad Mughal told AFP.

    "We are trying our best to find the family members so they can be laid to rest," he said. Muslim funerals are supposed to be held as soon as possible after the person's death and usually take place within one day.

    "Most of the unclaimed bodies do not have faces and heads and we have gathered hands, feet and torsos," said Amanullah, a volunteer from the private Edhi Welfare Trust, Pakistan's largest charity.

    The accident happened when one of the trains, the Quetta Express, stopped for repairs at Sarhad station, seven kilometres (four miles) from Ghotki, and the Karachi Express coming from Lahore smashed into it in the early hours.

    A number of carriages were catapulted onto a parallel track and a third train, the Tez Gam Express heading for Islamabad's twin city Rawalpindi, then careered into them.

    Rail chiefs Wednesday blamed the driver of the Karachi Express, who died in the crash, saying he misread a green signal meant for the stationary train.

    However, as a team of senior investigators arrived at the site, railway sources said on condition of anonymity that the Quetta Express should have been taken to a loopline for repairs instead of staying on the mainline.

    Four officials, including the Quetta train's driver and fireman, a pointman and the local station master, have gone missing. Railway police said it was not clear if they were killed or fled to avoid arrest after the crash.

    Meanwhile, government has also set up toll-free telephone hotlines and crisis centres at railway stations following the crash.

    But it was no consolation for some. "My two sons were on the Karachi express, but I am completely in the dark," said Lutafullah Khan, 58, outside Lahore station. "I will never smile again until I hear good news about my boys."

    Hundreds of people have died in recent years on Pakistan's ageing railway system.

    In 1991 another crash at Ghotki between a passenger train and a goods train killed 50 people according to authorities and between 100 and 200 according to press reports.

    A year earlier, more than 350 people were killed and 700 injured when a goods train collided with a passenger train in Sangi, near Ghotki.



    Space shuttle Discovery launch delayed
    Blair plans measures to uproot extremism
    Pakistan train crash carnage kills 128
     
      Today's Top News     Top World News
     

    China to launch manned spacecraft in October

     

       
     

    PLA on course to cut 200,000 personnel

     

       
     

    Japan approves oil drilling, China protests

     

       
     

    China plans to build 10 more nuclear reactors

     

       
     

    UK bomb probe focuses on chemist, Briton

     

       
     

    Cross-Straits exchanges widen with business

     

       
      UK bomb probe focuses on chemist, Briton
       
      France celebrates Bastille Day
       
      US military official accuses Russia, China of bullying
       
      South Korea, Japan, U.S. discuss extending talks
       
      Judge: Saddam trial could begin next month
       
      DPRK: Nuke-free peninsula our goal
       
     
      Go to Another Section  
     
     
      Story Tools  
       
      News Talk  
      Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
    Advertisement
             
    国产丰满乱子伦无码专区| 亚洲成a人无码av波多野按摩 | 日韩av片无码一区二区三区不卡| 欧美日韩中文字幕在线观看| 国产精品无码久久久久| 亚洲欧洲日产国码无码网站| 中文字幕亚洲精品| 中文字幕乱码无码人妻系列蜜桃| 99精品人妻无码专区在线视频区| 东京热av人妻无码专区| 精品久久久久久无码中文字幕 | 午夜无码一区二区三区在线观看| 亚洲AV无码乱码国产麻豆| 精选观看中文字幕高清无码| 亚洲AV无码专区在线播放中文 | 久久ZYZ资源站无码中文动漫| 日韩精选无码| 成在人线AV无码免观看麻豆| 日韩精品真人荷官无码| 亚洲乱码无码永久不卡在线| 日韩成人无码中文字幕| 中文字幕精品无码一区二区| 久久精品aⅴ无码中文字字幕不卡| 亚洲高清中文字幕免费| 亚洲高清无码综合性爱视频| 亚洲AV无码成人精品区狼人影院 | 亚洲欧洲中文日韩久久AV乱码| 狠狠精品干练久久久无码中文字幕| 免费无码毛片一区二区APP| 亚洲AV无码国产精品色午友在线| 无码一区二区三区免费| 无码精品人妻一区二区三区中| 亚洲av无码国产精品色午夜字幕 | 超清无码无卡中文字幕| 中文字幕丰满乱孑伦无码专区| 国产日韩AV免费无码一区二区| 蜜桃AV无码免费看永久| 亚洲日韩精品A∨片无码| 无码精品人妻一区二区三区免费看 | 国内精品无码一区二区三区| 亚洲成AV人片在线播放无码|