MIANWALI: Twenty-one passengers were injured when seven coaches as well as the locomotive of Peshawer-bound Khushal Khan Khattak Express de­­railed in a hilly area between the Massan Railway Station and Sawan Bridge, about 45km from here, on Sunday morning.

Rescue 1122 said one of the 21 passengers was admitted to the Kalabagh tehsil headquarters hospital with critical injuries.

A railways press release said 20 passengers were injured, with four of them admitted to the Mianwali DHQ hospital.

Dr Obaidullah Khan, Mianwali district rescue officer of 1122, said their team with ambulances and doctors rushed to the site to rescue the injured. He said the accident site was situated in a hilly area, but the rescue team with hectic efforts managed to reach there and provided treatment to 20 passengers on the spot. He said seven bogies and the locomotive were found overturned.

Railways said rescue trains from Kun­dian and Rawalpindi rushed to the scene.

“A relief train has been sent to the site for the transportation of Peshawar-bound passengers. Senior officers are there to supervise relief and rehabilitation work,” it added.

It said the federal government’s inspector of railways would hold a thorough probe to determine the cause of the accident.

A senior official at the railways headquarters in Lahore said that following the derailment, rail traffic on Mianwali-Rawalpindi and Mianwali-Peshawar sections had been suspended.

In reply to a question, the official said it would be premature to give a time frame for resumption of traffic on the route. “Since the accident site is off the road, repair of the track may take more time than usual.”

A railways official in Mianwali said the hilly rail track was more than century old and was in need of repair. He said top PR officials were aware of the fact, but they had ignored it for years.

Zaheer Mahmood Siddiqui also contributed to this report from Lahore

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2018