Pakistani express train packed with holiday travellers derailed this morning killing 58 people and injuring more than 120.
The Karachi Express night train was on its way from the southern city to Lahore when most of its carriages came off the rails and rammed into each other near the town of Mehrabpur, officials said.
A senior railway official ruled out sabotage, saying a faulty track was believed to have caused the crash.
Rescue workers tried to reach people still trapped in two badly damaged carriages and officials said the toll of dead and injured could rise. Some passengers cried out from inside a damaged carriage.
Luggage, train wheels and other wreckage littered the scene in farm land about 300 km (200 miles) north of Karachi. Soldiers from a nearby army camp carried the wounded on stretchers and hundreds of onlookers gathered at the site.
"According to our update, there are 58 bodies and 122 wounded. Forty of them are in critical condition," said Anwar Kazmi, an official with the Edhi ambulance service.
There were conflicting tolls, with some other officials giving a lower number of deaths.
"We're removing wreckage, injured people and dead bodies are still trapped," senior railway official Mohammad Amin Khan said.
The train crashed at about 2.30 a.m. (9.30pm Irish time) and many of those on board were heading home for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha on Friday.
Military and railway officials at the scene said they did not know the cause of the crash but the general manager of Pakistan's railway system, Asad Saeed, ruled out sabotage.
"There's a joint in the track which is welded and that has broken. It shrinks in winter. There are many forces on the track and sometimes this joint breaks," Saeed said.
One passenger reported hearing a loud rattling sound just before the crash.