ISLAMABAD: A fire broke out on a train in Pakistan on Thursday (Oct 31) when a gas canister passengers were using to cook breakfast exploded, killing at least 65 people.
Television footage showed flames pouring out of the carriages as people could be heard crying in the incident near Rahim Yar Khan district in Punjab province.
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"According to information reaching us from site of the accident, more than 65 people were killed and over 40 injured," provincial health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid told AFP.
The wounded were being rushed to hospitals in the nearby city of Bahawalpur and elsewhere in Rahim Yar Khan district, she 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.
Local media reported that some of the passengers had been cooking breakfast when the cylinder exploded.
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"Two cooking stoves blew up. They were cooking, they had (cooking) oil which added fuel to fire," Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Geo earlier.
"Most deaths occurred from people jumping off the train," he added.
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.
People sneaking stoves onto trains in order to prepare meals on long journeys is a common problem, the minister said.
Train accidents are common inRead More – Source
