Skip to main content

Funerals begin as town mourns victims of Tezgam train fire

Funerals victims Tezgam train fire

MIRPURKHAS: Distraught relatives gathered Friday for the first funerals of some of the 74 people killed when fire ripped through a crowded train in Pakistan, with many of the victims residents of a single town.

Sobbing family crowded an official building in Mirpurkhas overnight as the first bodies covered in white cloth began arriving by ambulance from the scene of the disaster.

After morning prayers, with women watching from nearby rooftops, more than a hundred men attended the first funeral — of a car mechanic named Mohammad Saleem, who was in his late 40s.

It was held at the Bismillah Mosque, from which at least 42 pilgrims had left to board the train one day earlier bound for a religious festival near Lahore.

Funerals victims Tezgam train fire
The first funerals began of some of those killed when a passenger train caught fire in Pakistan. AFP

Officials say as some of the train’s passengers cooked breakfast around dawn Thursday, two of their gas cylinders exploded, sending flames racing through three carriages as the train passed near Rahim Yar Khan, in Punjab province.

At least 74 people died, some after jumping through windows on the still-moving train to escape the blaze. Local media reported that rescue officials found bodies and some injured people along a two-kilometre stretch of track.

Dozens more were wounded and rushed to nearby hospitals.

One of the carriages — Wagon No.12 — was carrying mainly people from Mirpurkhas, the town’s deputy commissioner, Attaullah Shah, told AFP.

“There was never such a tragic incident to happen to Mirpurkhas,” he said.

Eight of the bodies had been confirmed as being residents of the town so far, he said.

Twenty-four Mirpurkhas residents were among the injured.

But at least another 40 are still missing, he said.

Funerals victims Tezgam train fire
A fire, sparked by an exploding gas cylinder, tore through the packed train, killing dozens of people, many of them pilgrims travelling to a religious gathering. AFP

Officials in Rahim Yar Khan have said many of the bodies are charred beyond recognition and will have to be identified through DNA testing — a process that could take up to one month.

Shah said the government was arranging to send families of the missing from Mirpurkhas to the hospital in Rahim Yar Khan where the bodies have been taken.

‘Mistake’

Mirpurkhas, a town of some half a million people surrounded by farms and mango orchards, was largely shut down Friday as businesses closed in mourning.

“These were such people that we can not ever forget them,” Mohammad Anwar, the 57-year-old headmaster of a government school, told AFP at the Bismillah Mosque.

He said that among the missing was his nephew, as well as the mosque’s imam. Most of those who left from the mosque had known one another or lived nearby.

Yawar Hussain came to the deputy commissioner’s office overnight in hopes of finding his brother Mohsin, 20.

victims Tezgam train fire
Dozens were hurt in the inferno, with many others suffering injuries as they jumped from the train to escape the flames. AFP

Clutching a photograph of his brother wearing a starched beige shalwar kameez and sunglasses, the 23-year-old described rushing home after hearing of the accident.

“I consoled my father, and my mother and sisters were crying,” he said.

Train accidents are common in Pakistan, where the railways have seen decades of decline due to corruption, mismanagement and lack of investment.

Gas cylinders are supposedly banned on trains. Pakistan’s railways minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said Thursday that it had been a “mistake” to allow the cylinders on board, and Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered an inquiry.

The train was the Tezgam, a daily express service that runs back and forth between the southern port city of Karachi and Rawalpindi, adjacent to Islamabad.

But it was being diverted Thursday to carry pilgrims to the annual Tablighi Ijtema, one of Pakistan’s biggest religious gatherings, which sees up to 400,000 people descend on a tented village outside Lahore for several days to sleep, pray and eat together.

The post Funerals begin as town mourns victims of Tezgam train fire appeared first on ARY NEWS.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

K-Electric fined Rs2 mn over weak power supply system

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs2 million on the K-Electric. According to a statement issued by the power regulatory authority, the K-Electric was penalized over non-compliance of performance standards, particularly its failure to restore power supply within the prescribed time frame and to ensure the safety of public in Karachi. Quoting media reports, it said large swathes of Karachi remained without electricity due to the tripping of almost 700 feeders during rainy weather in June last year, which resulted in long power blackouts ranging from 24 hours to 48 hours in almost 50% areas of Karachi. Further, there were also reports of fatal injuries to some people owing to electrocution. The Nepra took notice of the situation in Karachi and directed the K-Electric to immediately provide a detailed report on the tripping of feeders and electrocution incidents along with preventive and corrective steps taken by K-Elec...

10 creepy celebrity wax statues

Waxworks of celebrities, sports persons and politicians such as Tom Cruise, Barack Obama and Christiano Ronaldo are admired by people all over the world. The craft requires taking careful and accurate measurements to create these wax statues, which are then polished and perfected to make for an exact replica. Madame Tussaud’s is one of the most famous museums in the world that displays wax statues, however, not all wax museums in the world craft flawless statues. Compiled from Cosmopolitan India , here is a list of the creepiest celebrity wax statues. Barack Obama PHOTO: COSMOPOLITAN David and Victoria Beckham PHOTO: COSMOPOLITAN Jennifer Aniston PHOTO: COSMOPOLITAN Beyonce’s wax statue sparks outrage Jennifer Lopez PHOTO: COSMOPOLITAN Justin Bieber PHOTO: COSMOPOLITAN Justin Timberlake PHOTO: COSMOPOLITAN Aamir Khan PHOTO: COSMOPOLITAN Katrina Kaif PHOTO: COSMOPOLITAN London’s Tussauds gets to work on Trump wax figure Selena Gomez PHOTO: C...

Accountability court hears assets case against Ishaq Dar

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Wednesday resumed the hearing of a reference filed against former finance minister Ishaq Dar by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for allegedly accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income.  Judge Muhammad Bashir is recording the statement of a prosecution witness, Ishtiaq Ahmed. At the previous hearing, the accountability judge had reserved his verdict on an application filed by two co-accused seeking acquittal in the case. Naeem Mehmood and Mansoor Rizvi, who are directors of Dar’s companies, had filed the application requesting the judge to exonerate them from all charges for want of evidence. Qazi Misbah, the counsel for the two co-accused, contended the prosecution has failed to provide compelling evidence to prove the allegations leveled against his clients. The third co-accused President National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Saeed Ahmed, had already filed an application before the court for his acquittal wh...