HYDERABAD, May 3 Three bogies of the Lahore-bound Shalimar Express derailed at a place near Latifabad-Hyderabad underpass on Sunday.

Three passengers were injured and shifted to Civil Hospital.

The injured included Shahid Rajput, Dr Nand Lal and Dr Saroop, who were admitted to the hospital. Around 20 passengers were in the three bogies.

They were shaken by the accident but did not suffer any injury.

Railway officials arrived but there was no arrangement for their transportation. The passengers left for railway station on their own. They were heard blaming railway officials for not ensuring them a hassle-free journey as passengers had to raise a hue and cry in Karachi due to non-functioning of its air-conditioner.

A large number of people also gathered there and ambulances also arrived. Rangers had to disperse onlookers from the spot. Besides, railway scouts also reached on the spot to help authorities in smooth repair work. The crane arrived quite late to clear the track of damaged bogies.

Rescuers, including Edhi volunteers and private persons, rushed to the spot. State minister for Railways Jadam Mangrio is reported to have ordered an inquiry into the incident to be conducted by Mir Mohammad Khaskheli, the superintendent of railways Karachi division, who also arrived on the spot after the incident.

The three bogies were in the rear side of the Shalimar Express whose journey from Karachi was already delayed by five hours at cantonment railway station. According to Permanent Ways Inspector (PWI) Adil Hussain, the incident took place after driver applied brakes before reaching the outer signal.

The three bogies got separated from their trolleys. They derailed just 10-feet away from Hyderabad-Latifabad underpass otherwise the losses could have been colossal because the underpass is busy which connects roads between the two talukas. The last bogie was meant for luggage and second one is lower air-conditioner but its air-conditioner was not working due to some fault in power plant of the train. The couplings were broken between second and third bogie. There was a report that excel of second bogie had become too hard and when brakes were applied it got broken, causing the accident.

Since their air-conditioner was not working the passengers didn't board it from Karachi and lodged a complaint with the railway authorities. All the affected bogies sunk into the soil on their left side.

The traffic remained suspended for several hours on both the tracks. Later, the railway traffic was allowed to pass on down country track. The second track would be opened soon as repair work was in progress till filing of this report.

DSR Mir Mohammad Khaskheli told Dawn that he has noted some variation on the track towards Hyderabad on an area of around 20 feet. He said that these variations indicate weakness in the track's alignment.