LAHORE: At least two people were killed and several injured Thursday evening when a Rawalpindi-bound train derailed from its track near Gujranwala.
According to reports, four bogies of the train travelling from Lahore to Rawalpindi derailed near the Gujranwala City Railway Station, killing two people and injuring several others standing on the roadside.
The dead included a woman and a child.
Deputy Superintendent of Railways Humayun told reporters that the accident took place after the train failed to stop at its designated location.
Dildar Hussain Shah, a Pakistan Railways official, said the driver of the railcar failed to control the train and it rolled over a safety hump which was made for avoiding such accidents.
Hussain said no train passenger was hurt while two local people sitting on the hump reportedly died.
Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique has sought an inquiry report into the train accident within 24 hours.
Earlier this month, fourteen members of an extended family were killed when a speeding train hit a motorcycle rickshaw at an unmanned level-crossing near Khanpur village, about 50 kilometres from Gujranwala.
In one of the worst railway accidents in the country's history, three passenger trains collided on July 13, 2005 at the Sarhad Railway Station near Ghotki, resulting in deaths of over 150 people.
Railway authorities had said one of the trains failed to stop after the driver misread the signal, resulting in the massive triple-train collision.
On January 3, 1990, around 350 people were killed in an accident at Sangi, some 15km from Sukkur, which is said to be the biggest ever train accident in Pakistan.
