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14 June 2000 Wednesday 10 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1421

Two killed as trains collide near Jhimpir

By Aziz Malik

HYDERABAD, June 13: Two railway employees died and 20 passengers were injured when Shah Latif Express rammed into Awam Express between Meting and Jhimpir stations on Tuesday.

The driver of the Mirpurkhas-bound Latif Express, following the Peshawar-bound Awam Express at a close distance, either ignored or failed to read the red signal and rammed into it.

The deceased were: Alauddin, a resident of Karachi and driver of Latif Express, and Nazimuddin, a resident of Rohri and guard in-charge of the other train.

Obviously the driver had either disregarded the signal or failed to notice it, the divisional superintendent of railways, Karachi, Nasir Zaidi, told Dawn.

However, the DS said, an inquiry had been ordered by the PR chairman and that the general manager was on his way from Lahore to examine the place of accident.

Mr Zaidi, who was waiting for the rescue train at the Meting station, said that two damaged bogies had been detached and added that eight bogies of Latif Express had been pulled back to the Jhimpir station while 18 bogies of the Awam Express had proceeded towards Hyderabad.

When this correspondent arrived at the scene of accident, about seven kilometres from the Meting station, he found no responsible official of the administration there. Except for Thatta SSP Waliullah Dal, no senior officer had visited the spot by then.

The last two bogies of the Awam Express were derailed, while the back part of the engine of Latif Express was badly damaged. The body of Alauddin was extricated from the engine after it had been cut with gas cutters. A crane had been requisitioned to clear the track, which had not been cleared till 3pm.

Seven of the injured admitted to the Kotri taluka hospital were identified as Nathan, his wife Juri and daughter Mona (Karachi); Mohammad Umer (Tando Adam), Parsoo Mal (Jam Nawaz Taluka), Ghulam Qadir (Naushahro Firoz), and Imran (Kotri).

Those who were admitted to the LMC hospital were: Mohammad Nawaz, Abdus Samad, Liaquat Ali and Mohammad Ismail.

According to Edhi sources, nine others were discharged after treatment.

http://www.dawn.com/2000/06/14/top1.htm

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), June 14, 2000