SUKKUR, March 19: Rail traffic between Quetta, Punjab and Karachi was suspended and hundreds of passengers were stranded at Jacobabad and Sibi stations on Saturday after the railway track got damaged first by hill torrents and then by a bomb blast. A big portion of the railway track between Damboli and Dangra stations was washed away by floodwater coming from the nearby mountains following a spell of heavy rain late Friday. The Karachi-bound Balochistan Express was cancelled and Quetta-bound trains from Peshawar and Lahore were stranded at Jacobabad. Jaffer Express on its way to Quetta from Rawalpindi was sent back from Dera Allah Yar. Quetta Express, Chiltan Express and Jaffer Express were halted at Jacobabad on Saturday morning. Sources said rescue work had been started. In the other incident that took place at around 8pm on Saturday a bomb went off at the Kandhkot railway station, blowing up a two-and-a-half-foot portion of the track. Town Police Officer Kandhkot Abdul Sattar Bhutto said the blast had caused a big crater in the ground.

The divisional superintendent, Pakistan Railways, Sukkur, Chaudhry Nazir Ahmed, said railway police had been deployed in the area and added that railway authorities were looking after the passengers stranded at the Jacobabad station.

He said that owing to continuing rain and strong torrents workers were facing difficulties to carry out the repair work.

Mr Ahmed expressed the hope that rail traffic would be restored by Sunday morning.