At least four people were killed and 30 others injured when a passenger train derailed in central Pakistan early Tuesday, police and a Pakistan Railways spokesman said.
The train was travelling from the southern port city of Karachi to the northwestern city of Peshawar when it went off the tracks in Sher Shah city in Punjab province, railway spokesman Kaleem Akhtar said.
Rescuers recovered the bodies of all four victims and evacuated the injured from the train’s 14 carriages, he said. The injured were taken to a hospital for treatment, while emergency responders and paramedics were dispatched to the scene.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed their grief over the deaths in separate statements and urged the authorities to ensure the best possible medical care for the injured.
Train accidents are relatively common in Pakistan, where the railway system has suffered from decades of underinvestment, outdated tracks and ageing signalling systems.
In 2023, 10 carriages of a passenger train derailed in southern Pakistan, killing 30 people and injuring more than 90 others.