Pakistan train collision at railway station kills 23 passengers

As many as 23 people were killed in eastern Pakistan when a passenger train collided with a stationary freight train at a railway station on Thursday, while a bus crash in the east of the country claimed at least 13 lives on Friday.

The train incident happened, when a locomotive piled into a train carrying goods which had stopped at Walhar Railway Station in Punjab province, eastern Pakistan. 

Mangled carriages were thrown on their sides, with rescue workers picking through the wreckage to find survivors on Thursday evening.

So far, 23 people have been confirmed dead and 73 hurt, according to AFP, with doctors working through the night to treat the injured, some of whom didn't survive their wounds.

"According to the latest updates available with us, the death toll rose to 23 overnight after more people died of their wounds in different hospitals," a senior Pakistan Railways official told AFP.

Another senior railways official told the agency that "rescuers have pulled out all the dead and injured from the wreckage".

"We are now focusing on quickly clearing the track," he said.

Train crashes are common in Pakistan, in part due to years of neglect and a lack of investment in the country's railways. Prime Minister Imran Khan, who came to power just under a year ago, has ordered emergency steps to be taken to address the issue.

An investigation into Friday's incident has been ordered by Khan, the railway official said, while an emergency was also declared, a provincial official told Sky News.

Khan said he was "saddened" by the news and ordered Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad to "take emergency steps to counter decades of neglect of railway infrastructure".
 
A day later, on Friday, and a bus carrying passengers from the eastern city of Lahore to the Swat region, northwest Pakistan, careened off a highway in bad weather and into a gorge. 

At least 13 passengers were killed in the crash and 34 injured, including five in a critical condition.


Agencies contributed to this story.