2005 Ghotki Rail Crash
Accident
The Quetta Express was stopped at Sarhad station because of a fault in the brakes when the Karachi Express travelling from Lahore to Karachi on the same line half an hour later and moving at about 120km/h (75mph), collided with it from behind. An emergency brake application after the crew saw the tail light of the stopped train could not prevent the collision because of insufficient braking power; two coaches had been isolated from the train braking system. The collision caused at least three train cars to derail onto the opposite direction track, where they were subsequently hit by Tezgam, heading from Karachi to Rawalpindi. More cars were derailed by this second impact, bringing the total to thirteen. All three trains were full of passengers, as trains often are in Pakistan. a total of seventeen cars were wrecked, with over 3000 passengers.
The Ghotki crash was the worst rail accident in Pakistan since the 1990 Sukkur rail disaster. The exact number killed was not originally known; initial reports were of 109, 120, 127, or more than 130 deaths, with many critically injured.
Causes
Initially the conductor or driver of the Karachi Express was believed to have missed or misread a signal, but subsequent investigations found that the signalling system was faulty and the crew had misjudged which signal was wrong. Also the points had not been set to direct the train to the loop line.
See also
References
- ^ "News: Ghotki Trains Crash". Pakistan Railways. 5 March 2006.
- ^ "Pakistan train disaster kills 132". BBC News. 19 July 2005.
- ^ "3-train crash kills 127 in Pakistan". The New York Times. 14 July 2005.
- ^ "Death toll in Pakistan train crash rises to 133". NBC News. AP. 14 July 2005. Archived from the original on 30 October 2013.
- ^ Haris Zamir; Khalid Qayum (13 July 2005). "Pakistan Triple-Train Crash Leaves 109 People Dead (Update 2)". Archived from the original on 11 September 2005.
- ^ Raheel Junejo (13 July 2005). "Worst Rail Crash: Kills 100s with injuries to 1000 in Pakistan". Pakistan Times. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009.
External links