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Train Collision In Pakistan Kills At Least Six, Injures Over 100


Pakistani bystanders gather at the site of the collision of two trains on the outskirts of Multan on September 15.
Pakistani bystanders gather at the site of the collision of two trains on the outskirts of Multan on September 15.

A Karachi-bound express train collided with a freight train in Pakistan's central Punjab region early on September 15, killing at least six people and injuring more than 100, Pakistani officials and media said.

The Awami Express hit a stationary cargo train at Sher Shah, about 25 kilometers from the city of Multan, and four carriages overturned, they said.

There was a delay in the emergency response due to Eid holidays in Pakistan, a mainly Muslim nation of 190 million people.

Railway official Saima Bashir blamed the accident on the passenger train engineer, saying he failed to heed a red signal that went up after the freight train had stopped.

She said the freight train stopped so the driver could remove the body of a man who tried to cross the track and got crushed to death.

Pakistan's colonial-era railway network has fallen into disrepair in recent decades due to chronic underinvestment and poor maintenance.

Last November, 19 people were killed in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan Province after a train's brakes failed and it sped down the side of a mountain.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
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