HYDERABAD, July 13: The fate of passengers who had boarded the Lahore-bound Tezgam Express from Hyderabad and the Karachi Express for Hyderabad remained unknown as railway authorities have no confirmation whether they are dead or alive after a three-train accident at the Sarhad railway station, Ghotki, early Wednesday morning. Ninety-one of the passengers had reserved seats while the number of people who had boarded the Tezgam Express from Hyderabad and the Karachi Express for Hyderabad could not be known.

Figures obtained from the Hyderabad railway station revealed that 47 people, including women and children, had boarded the Lahore-bound Tezgam Express which left Hyderabad at 7:40 pm on Tuesday while another list obtained by railway station superintendent Altaf Hussain revealed that 44 people had been travelling in the Karachi Express with Hyderabad as their destination.

The arrival of three trains – Faisalabad Night Coach, Awami Express and Super Express – at Hyderabad was delayed due to the accident. The Faisalabad coach reached Hyderabad at 6pm after the track was cleared, according to Hyderabad railway officials.

The Bahaduddin Zakrya Express, Khyber Mail and Faisalabad Night Coach and the Fareed Express had left for up-country but they were stopped at the Rohri railway station.

Officials said only a single track remained open for traffic between Sarhad and Ghotki railway stations after the accident.

The Bahaduddin Zakria Express and the Multan- bound Shah Rukn-e-Alam Express were provided alternative route through Kashmore.

No list of casualty was provided to railway authorities at Hyderabad following the accident but they obtained the names from the Lahore railway station, also of those who had started journey from Hyderabad.

Around one dozen injured passengers who were to reach Karachi by the Karachi Express, arrived at Hyderabad by the Faisalabad Night Coach. The station superintendent has received a list of 62 deceased and 46 injured people. Addresses are not mentioned in the lists which contain only names and ages. The injured said the bodies were flown to Karachi.

They said the relief operation had started very late and it was around 9am when officials started proper relief work. They said a relief train that reached the spot had nothing but an engine alone.

Waseem Atta, Tanveer and Shahzad told journalists at the railway station: “We believe that around 300 people have been killed in the incident. The relief work began very late and the rescue operation began at around 8am”.

“The incident occurred at 3:40am and following the tragedy we were made to wait for 12 hours and then we were sent to the Rohri railway station,” said injured Khwaja Moeduddin.

A woman, Raeesa, who was weeping, had arrived here from Karachi to seek details about her newly-wedded daughter, Nazneen, and son-in-law who had left for an up-country trip by the Tezgam Express. She could not get any confirmation about the couple.

Those who had boarded the Karachi Express for Hyderabad included Fahad, Amjad, Iqbal, Ahmad Maki, Chaudhry Raees Ahmad, Capt Zaman, Ehtesham, Mohammad Salman, Ali Mohammad, Mohammad Saeed, Mohammad Saeed, Shahid, Kamran, Ali, Saleem Ahsan, Dildar, Mr and Mrs Haji Moeen, Mohammad Naeem, Mahboob, Rajbat Maqsood, Haider and and Jaffar.

Passengers who had boarded the Tezgam Express from Hyderabad included Zulfiqar and his child, Mrs Jamil, Tasleem, A. Waheed, S. Shiraz, Zeeshan, Zulikhan, Sumira, Shahin, Shumaila, Lubna, M.Ilyas, Allah Bux, Naseer Ahmad, Sarwar Hussain, his wife and two daughters, M. Riaz, Dodo Khan, Attaur Rehman, Sheera, Nizamuddin, Azhar Hussain, Farman Ali, Mohammad Asghar, Liaqat Ali, M. Afzal, A. Sattar, Hameeda, Zaren Khan, Zubeda, Aroosa, M. Nazam, Zewar, M. Anees, M. Hanif, Khushi Mohammad, Shoukat and M. Ashraf.