Pakistan train crash kills at least 20 in Karachi

At least 20 people have been killed and 60 others were injured when two trains carrying hundreds of passengers collided in the Pakistani city of Karachi. Horrified witnesses described how one train sped into Quaidabad station and rammed into another train which was stationary at the platform in the early hours of Thursday. Rescuers are using metal-cutting equipment and heavy cranes to try and reach passengers trapped inside the mangled wreckage. Officials say up to 1,000 people were on board the two trains when the accident happened. Three women and two children are among the dead, and it is feared many more may have been killed or hurt.

We’re hearing cries, people shouting for help from the wreck.

Mukhtar Shah, Police official

The crash happened when the incoming Zakria Express from the city of Multan rammed into the Fareed Express, from Lahore, as it waited at the station in the Landi neighbourhood of Karachi. Thousands of miles of track in Pakistan remain from the days when Britain was the colonial power and train crashes are common. Decades of corruption, mismanagement and lack of investment have seen the railways decline. In February the Fareed Express hit a van at a crossing in southern Pakistan, killing eight people from the same family. Often accidents happen at unmanned crossings, which can lack barriers and sometimes even signals.

Asia-Pacific