PAKISTAN: At least six carriages of a Pakistani passenger train which may have been carrying up to 400 passengers derailed yesterday and plunged into a ravine, according to a railways minister, but he had no word on casualties.
Troops were working under searchlight to reach passengers trapped in the wreckage of the train travelling from Rawalpindi, a city adjoining the capital Islamabad, to the eastern city of Lahore.
Ishaq Khakwani, the junior minister for railways, said at least six carriages plunged 15-30 metres down a ravine near the central city of Jhelum.
"I don't know exactly how many casualties there are, but if a train falls down 50 or 100 feet, there may be many injuries," he said. "We are gathering information, but our initial information says six carriages have derailed."
"Up to 400 passengers may have been on the carriages that have derailed. We pray that there are not many casualties. It's all dark, we are trying our best to rescue people."
Pakistan's military spokesman, Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan, said troops had reached the site and had taken searchlights, generators and medics, but contact with the rescue team had been lost as it descended into the ravine.
Marwat Ali Shah, the deputy inspector general of police in Rawalpindi, said he had reports that nine carriages had derailed and it appeared to be a big accident, although he also had no reports of casualties.
"Our teams are moving there. The army has also moved some teams. We have asked for hospitals in the region to vacate beds."
He said some passengers had spoken by mobile telephone to relatives.
"They are saying that the situation does not look too bad, but to me it seems to be a big, big accident, because derailment in this area means going down very deep ravines."
Last July, at least 133 people died in a three-train pile-up in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh.
That accident occurred when a crowded passenger train rammed into another at a station and a third train then ploughed into the wreckage. About 2,000 people were on the trains.
In Pakistan's worst train crash, 307 people were killed in 1990 when a packed passenger train smashed into a freight train.