LAHORE, Feb 4: Tearful relatives and friends hugged the survivors of the derailed Karakoram Express at the Lahore railway station on Saturday.

Carrying 390 or so passengers, a special train also comprising five coaches of the 41-up arrived at the jam-packed platform No 2 at 5.45pm.

Before the arrival of the special train, a great rush was seen at the information desk set up near the reservation counters in the main veranda where the lists of the injured were displayed.

Lahore Station Master MS Abid and his deputy were the only railway officers, who received the passengers.

“Everyone was crying and praying,” passengers Bilqees, Sughran and Kulsoom told reporters. Ashfaq and Nauman Haider said: “We pulled out one another but were herded like animals in the five coaches which didn’t derail. There was no electricity or water from Samasatta to Lahore in these coaches.”

Jabbar Shah and some other passengers said they were not allowed to pick up their luggage from the derailed coaches.

Conductor-guards Zulfikar and Javaid were sitting in coach No 10 of the Lahore-bound Karakoram Express when it overturned near kilometre No 908/6 between Samasatta and Kalanchwala railway stations at 3.10am.

“There was complete darkness and chaos. Someone lit a match and we broke a pane and first asked the children, women and elderly to go out. Then we came out, broke the pane of another coach and pulled out the passengers,” Mr Zulfikar told newsmen.

He said the derailment was an act of sabotage as the train staff found a complete rail detached, nuts and bolts lying near the track. “We also handed over a red plastic glass to the high-ups which we found near the track.”

The derailment also delayed the arrival of all major trains from Karachi at least by 10 hours. The special train was the first to arrive at 5.45pm, followed by the Karachi Express at 7.45pm. The arrival time of Allama Iqbal, the Jaffar, the Khyber Mail could not be confirmed till the filing of the report.

The Karachi-bound Karakoram Express left the Lahore station 50 minutes later than its scheduled time of 4pm while the Karachi Express left at 10pm.

The traffic policemen, deputed outside the railway station, added to the problems of the people who had come to receive the survivors. They called the forklift operator and asked him to take away half a dozen or so cars which the people had parked near a fast food outlet. The owners of the lifted vehicles (Nos LRB-129, LOD-848, LOG 1092, LHN-8744, LRM-8883 and LZH-8690) had to walk up to the Naulakha police station compound to pay the Rs200 each fine to get the vehicles back.