LAHORE, July 14: Federal Government Inspector of Railways (FGIR) Saleemur Rahman Akhoond will launch on July 18 an inquiry into three passenger trains pile up at the Sarhad railway station. Five officers of the Pakistan Railways (PR) w2and the staff of the Sarhad railway station have been suspended for negligence in duty which may have led to the tragedy. PR officials said on Thursday the FGIR would conduct the inquiry at the Ghotki railway station on July 18 at 8am and in the committee room of the Sukkur divisional superintendent office on July 19 and 20.
Anyone having knowledge about any aspect of the accident and desiring to give evidence may do so at the given dates and places or write to the FGIR, Allama Iqbal Road, Lahore, by July 25, the officials said.
The decision to hold the inquiry at the level of the FGIR was taken during a meeting of Minister for Railways Shamim Haider with Railways Secretary/Chairman Shakeel Durrani at the PR headquarters on Thursday.
The minister and the railways chief also decided to suspend Multan DME Yousaf Leghari, Sukkur DTO Ashraf Lanjar, Rawalpindi DME Shahzad Alam Siddiqui, Sukkur Deputy Chief Controller Sikandar Ali and Sarhad acting station master Ikhtiar Ahmad.
Our Sukkur Correspondent adds: The entire staff of Sarhad railway station has been suspended for committing negligence to their duties.
This was announced by Federal Railway Minister Shamim Haider while talking to journalists during a visit to the CMH Pano Akil to see those injured in the accident.
He said that station master Maqbool Ahmed, his deputy and point-man Din Mohammad of Sarhad railway station were among those suspended.
Mr Haider said that more suspensions or terminations could be made after completion of the inquiry into the tragedy.
FGIR Rehman would record statements of eyewitnesses and suspended officials and submit the report to the federal government, he added.
Answering a question, he said that sabotage could not be overruled in the incident as an unidentified body had been recovered with the bodies of driver Ghulam Mohammad and fireman Noor Hassan from the locomotive of the Karachi Express.
He said that may be the driver and fireman had been overpowered or killed before the accident by the third person.
He denied that the driver was sleeping when his train hit the other and said that there was a paddle in the China-made locomotive, which was continuously pressed by its driver and if the driver lifted his foot from the paddle, the locomotive stopped after a few seconds.
The minister said that they needed the help of army to investigate the case and added that the bodies of the driver and fireman would be sent to Islamabad for some tests.
