SUKKUR, July 14: Six more dead bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of the three trains, which collided on Wednesday at Sarhad railway station, some 49 kilometres from here, taking the official death toll to 136. Rescue work was resumed on Thursday morning after being suspended last night due to non-availability of light and lack of labour. With the recovery of six more bodies, the death toll has gone up to 136, according to the railway authorities, whereas the hospital sources put the toll at 170.
However, Sukkur Edhi Centre officials Zulfiqar and Mazhar Bhutto, who had monitored the rescue operation, said that 175 to 180 persons had been killed in the disaster.
They said that out of the six unidentified bodies found today, five had been recovered from the wreckage and another from a nearby canal.
They said that the wreckage of the locomotive of the Karachi Express was still at the place of the accident and some bodies might have been buried under it.
The Edhi Foundation officials said that only 65 bodies had been handed over to relatives of the victims by government officials and Edhi volunteers.
They said that 55 decaying bodies, including 30 mutilated ones, had been kept at the Taluka Hospital Ghotki and added that it was very difficult to identify them as no identification paper had been found in their pockets.
Hospital sources confirmed that relatives of the victims had taken away some 65 bodies for burial through road and air transport.
Other bodies, including mutilated ones, after being given ritual bath by Edhi volunteers, had been kept the hospital, they said and added that the bodies were decaying owing to lack of cooling arrangement at the hospital, therefore, it had been decided to bury them in a Ghotki graveyard as “Amanat”.
Doctors at the hospital were advising the relatives not to take the bodies to their native places and, instead, bury them in a local graveyard as the decomposing bodies could spread disease.
Particularly, residents of Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and other distant areas have been given the advice.
Hospital sources said that the bodies had been packed in coffins and they were waiting for a green signal from the relatives to bury them in a local graveyard.
Dr Arbab Malik, a medical officer in the Ghotki Civil Hospital, told this correspondent on telephone that it had been decided at a high level meeting in Mirpur Mathelo that the bodies identified till Thursday night would be handed over to the relatives and the remaining ones would be buried in a local graveyard on Friday morning at about 8:00am.
According to APP, 57 bodies have been identified so far and taken to the native places of the victims.
It quoted Director-General Health Services (Sindh) Dr Hadi Bux Jatoi as saying in Hyderabad that 36 bodies had been kept at Taluka Hospital Ghotki for identification and the remaining 37 could not be identified as they had been mutilated.
Railways Traffic Inspector Shaukat Ali said that the PR was issuing free passes to relatives of the deceased or injured passengers, wanting to visit the place of the accident or the hospitals to identify their loved ones.
“Information relating to the rail tragedy is available at the toll-free phone Nos 0800-00002 and 061-92009281,” said the official.
Meanwhile, thousands of relatives of the dead and missing passengers have been arriving in Ghotki for the last night to find out about their near and dear ones.
The relatives, coming from different areas of the country, were staying in hotels and relief camps established by political parties and social welfare organizations in a large number.
Local trade organizations were also busy in providing food and other facilities to the relatives of the dead and injured, who were facing hardship in sizzling heat.
MISSING EMPLOYEES: Six railways employees have so far been missing following the accident and the PR authorities are unable to provide any information about them.
Those missing are: driver Din Mohammad, fireman Mohammad Yousuf, guard Haji Hassan and Faisal Haq of Quetta Express; guards Khalid Brohi and Gul Hassan, point-man Muneer Ahmed and a gateman, whose name could not be ascertained.
The Sukkur divisional commercial officer (Railways) told this correspondent that he could not say whether the missing employees had died in the accident or (some of them) had been picked up by intelligence agencies.
He said that it was wrong to assume that the railway authorities had blamed the driver of the Karachi express for the accident to save other officials.
He said that while a train stayed at a station, electronic signal light never went green and remained red and the lights were easily visible from a distance ranging between 3 and 1/2 kilometres to five kilometres.
If the driver, after seeing the light from a distance of three kilometres, had applied brakes, the accident would have been averted, he argued.
CASE REGISTERED: The Rohri railway police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Railways Act and Pakistan Penal Code against ‘unknown’ accused.
SUKKUR, July 14: Six more dead bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of the three trains, which collided on Wednesday at Sarhad railway station, some 49 kilometres from here, taking the official death toll to 136. Rescue work was resumed on Thursday morning after being suspended last night due to non-availability of light and lack of labour. With the recovery of six more bodies, the death toll has gone up to 136, according to the railway authorities, whereas the hospital sources put the toll at 170.
