At least 20 dead in Karachi, Pakistan, train collision

KARACHI, Pakistan, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- At least 20 people were killed in the collision of two trains Thursday in a Karachi, Pakistan, train station, railway officials said.

Another 60 were injured aboard the trains, which carried up to 1,000 passengers between them, Nasir Nazeer, railway divisional superintendent, said. A fast-moving train traveled into Karachi's Quaidabad station and truck a stationary train, trapping many people in the wreckage.

At least two cars overturned, and rescuers used metal-cutting equipment and other heavy equipment to reach those trapped inside the trains.

The crash occurred early Thursday when the incoming Zakria Express, from the city of Multan, struck the Fareed Express, from Lahore, as it waited at the station in Karachi's Landi neighborhood.

Khawaja Saad Rafique, deferral railways minister, said the initial indication is negligence on the part of the driver and assistant aboard the moving train, who, he said, ignored both a yellow signal meant to slow the train down and a red signal, ordering it to stop. He added an investigation into the accident would begin soon.

Train accidents are common in Pakistan, and the country's railways have long been in decline due to corruption, mismanagement and lack of investment, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported Thursday.