TOBA TEK SINGH: At least 10 passengers were injured, including two with fractures, when three bogies and the engine of Karachi-bound 48-down Rehman Baba Express derailed at Toba Tek Singh railway station on Thursday night.

The passengers waited at the railway station for about four hours after which about half of them were sent off in another train, while the remaining continued their journey on the same train after a substitute engine reached there.

Several passengers also received minor injuries as they fell down from the berths after the derailment. Rescue 1122 provided first aid to all those who had minor injuries and shifted two seriously wounded passengers — Umer Idrees of Attock and Mazhar Hussain of Duniapur — to DHQ Hospital.

Railways authorities ordered a probe to find the cause of the derailment. The railway engineering team reached here in a relief train and removed the derailed coaches from the track to restore the rail service.

Witnesses said the train was supposed to stop at the railway station, but when its brakes failed and the train crossed the platform, the driver applied emergency brakes that caused the derailment.

But the engineering team claimed that a fault had caused failure of the pressure brake system and on inspection, the brake pads of seven coaches were found out of order.

The train driver had fled from the scene soon after the accident.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2019