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- By Parinda News Bureau, January 31, 2006, 09:42 IST
Lahore: Pak Railways Minister Ishaq Khakwani said that evidence confirmed that "an act of sabotage" derailed several carriages and plunged it into a ravine, killing 4 people and injuring 30.
The derailment occurred on late Sunday in a hilly area near Jhelum city.
Stating that they saw spanners and the nuts of the fish plates were open, Khakwani said "several elements" could have been involved adding "it could be internal, it could be external".
The high-speed train, carrying 600 passengers, was heading to Lahore from Rawalpindi when six compartments of the train derailed at Domeli, northeast of Islamabad, and plunged into a 50-feet ravine, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said.
"The train with eight coaches and engine power-plant was derailed while negotiating a turn at Taraki between Domali and Bakarrala railway stations", officials said adding the toll was around 4.
More than 300 people have been pulled out of the wreckage of the derailed bogies. A relief train has brought the injured and survivors of the accident to Lahore.
Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said army rescue teams and cranes were sent to the crash site to pull out the coaches.
It is the second major train crash in Pakistan is less than a year. More than 130 people were killed near the town of Ghotki in Sindh last July.
President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz expressed condolence over the loss of lives in the mishap and ordered that all efforts be made to provide immediate relief to the affected passengers.
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