At least 65 people have been killed after gas cooking stoves exploded and set fire to a packed train in Pakistan.
More than 40 people were wounded, some critically, in the blaze which started when two gas stoves being used by poorer passengers to cook breakfast blew up.
The fire, which was fuelled by cooking oil the passengers were carrying, engulfed three carriages of the train, which was carrying people from Karachi to a religious conference in Rawalpindi.
As smoke and flames tore through the train, desperate passengers threw themselves out of the moving carriages – many of them jumping to their deaths.
At least 65 people have died and more than 40 have been injured, some critically, after two gas cooking stoves exploded on board a train in Pakistan
Three carriages of the train, which was carrying people from Karachi to a religious conference in Rawalpindi, were engulfed by flames and fuelled by cooking oil passengers were carrying
Officials said that most people died jumping from the moving carriages in a desperate bid to escape as the fire tore through the train
Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Geo TV: ‘Two cooking stoves blew up. They were cooking, they had (cooking) oil which added fuel to fire
‘Most deaths occurred from people jumping off the train.’
Mr Ahmed said that poor passengers often bring their own small gas stoves on the trains to cook their meals, in violation of train safety rules.
As the fire took hold, the three burning cars were disconnected from the rest of the train to prevent it spreading.
The burning carriages eventually came to a stop near Rahim Yar Khan, around halfway along the train’s route.
The wounded were being rushed to hospitals in the nearby city of Bahawalpur and elsewhere in Rahim Yar Khan district, a local official said, adding that only 18 of the bodies were identifiable.
‘Terrible… train tragedy with gas cylinder carried by passenger exploding,’ tweeted human rights minister Shireen Mazari.
Mazari said the train was the Tezgam, one of Pakistan’s oldest and most popular train services, which runs between the garrison city of Rawalpindi, adjacent to Islamabad, and the southern port city of Karachi.
Dozens of people could be seen crowded onto the tracks staring at the three burning carriages, which had been disconnected from the rest of the train, television images showed.
Train accidents are common in Pakistan, where the railways have seen decades of decline due to corruption, mismanagement and lack of investment.
The burning train eventually came to a stop near Rahim Yar Khan, around halfway along the train’s route, allowing rescue workers to douse the flames
Train accidents are relatively common in Pakistan, where railways are often neglected thanks to corruption and lack of investment
In July, at least 23 people were killed in the same district when a passenger train coming from the eastern city of Lahore rammed into a goods train that had stopped at a crossing.
Accidents often happen at unmanned crossings, which frequently lack barriers and sometimes signals.
Prime Minister Imran Khan was elected last year on promises to build an Islamic welfare state but an ongoing economic slowdown and austerity measures have hampered efforts to invest in infrastructure and social programmes.
Rural Punjab has witnessed several gruesome accidents over the years, including an oil tanker explosion in 2017 when more than 200 people were killed after the truck crashed on a main highway in central Punjab province while carrying some 50,000 litres of fuel from Karachi to Lahore.
It exploded minutes later, sending a fireball through crowds from a nearby village who had gathered to scavenge for the spilled fuel, despite warnings by the driver and police to stay away.
Rescue workers carry the remains of one passenger from the train. Officials said that only 18 of the dead were immediately identifiable
Rescue workers remove the remains of people killed in a train fire in Pakistan from three burned-out carriages, which were disconnected from the rest of the train
People and rescue workers gather near the site after a fire broke out in a passenger train and destroyed three carriages near the town of Rahim Yar Khan