28 March 2017•Update: 28 March 2017
By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
Two people were killed and 10 injured when a passenger train collided with an oil tanker in northeastern Pakistan, officials said on Tuesday.
The accident -- the fourth of its kind in less than four months -- occurred late Monday night in the northeastern Sheikhupura district, located some 39 kilometers (24 miles) from Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, when a Karachi-bound train collided with an oil tanker.
The tanker was reportedly stuck on the tracks at a narrow railway crossing.
Footage aired on local Geo TV showed giant billowing flames and at least five passenger cars completely burnt.
The dead include the driver and assistant driver of the train, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique told reporters.
Rafique said an investigation had been launched.
In November last year, 22 people were killed and more than 40 others injured in a collision between two passenger trains near Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi.
Pakistan has had a long history of road and train accidents, mainly because of lack of safety standards and poor infrastructure.
