Ghotki rail crash

Ghotki rail crash

Date	July 13, 2005
Location	Ghotki
Country	Pakistan
Rail line	Karachi to Rawalpindi
Operator	Pakistan Railways
Type of incident	collision
Cause	Incorrectly set points
Statistics
Trains	3
Deaths	109
Injuries	100

The Ghotki rail crash occurred on July 13, 2005, at around 3:40am local time (2240 July 12 UTC) in Ghotki, Pakistan. A train (Quetta Express) stopping at the Sarhad (a town near Ghotki) rail station was hit from behind by a train (Karachi Express) that missed a signal. The collision caused several of the cars to derail. The derailed cars were subsequently hit by a third train (Tezgam), which resulted in a total of seventeen wrecked train cars, which carried over 3000 passengers. The entire staff of Sarhad railway station fled when the accident occurred.

The train that rammed into the stopped train at the Ghotki station originated in Lahore and was headed for the city of Karachi. The third train involved in the accident was heading from Karachi to Rawalpindi near the country's capital city of Islamabad.

Although the exact death toll was not originally known, officials estimated that over 500 people may have died as a result of the accident. Final results put the death toll at a substantially-lower 109 victims.

External links

• Pakistan Triple-Train Crash Leaves 109 People Dead (Bloomberg)
• Pakistani leaders express deep sorrow over train accident (Xinhua)
• 3 trains collide in Pakistan; 112 dead (AP/MSNBC)
• Worst Rail Crash: Kills 100s with injuries to 1000 in Pakistan (Pakistan Times)