The Ghotki rail crash occurred on 13 July 2005, at around 3:40am local time (2240 July 12 UTC) near

Ghotki Ghotki ( ur, ; sd, گهوٽڪي) is a city in northern Sindh, Pakistan. It is the headquarter of Ghotki District. It is the 87th largest city of Pakistan by population. Ghotki is famous for Pera Sweet. History According to Mirza Kalich Beg ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. No. 24 Dn train (''Quetta Express'') stopped at the station of Sarhad was hit from behind by the following ''Karachi Express'' (No. 16 Dn) train, causing several cars to derail; these were then hit by a third train running in the opposite direction (''Tezgam''). A total of seventeen train cars, carrying over 3000 passengers, were wrecked. Estimates of the death toll ranged as high as over 130. It was the worst train accident in Pakistan in fifteen years.

Accident

The ''Quetta Express'' was stopped at Sarhad station because of a fault in the brakes when the ''Karachi Express'' travelling from

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

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 Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

. 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 Sukkur rail disaster occurred on 4 January 1990 in the village of Sangi near Sukkur in the Sindh Province of Pakistan. 307 people were killed, making it Pakistan's worst rail disaster. The train concerned (Bahauddin Zakaria Express) was on ...

. 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 Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

had not been set to direct the train to the loop line.

References

External links

{{coord, 28, 02, 13, N, 69, 25, 02, E, region:PK-SD_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title 2005 disasters in Pakistan Railway accidents in 2005

Rail crash A train wreck, train collision, train accident or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an acci ...

Train collisions in Pakistan Transport in Sindh History of Sindh (1947–present) Government of Shaukat Aziz Accidents and incidents involving Pakistan Railways July 2005 events in Asia