Train hits bus at railway crossing in Pakistan, 12 dead

LAHORE: A speeding train struck a crowded bus at a railway crossing in eastern Pakistan, killing at least 12 people and injuring about 50 others, police said.

The accident happened at Muridke, a town near the city of Lahore. Mohammed Akram, an area police chief, said the dead who included a woman and a child and injured were extracted from the destroyed bus and transported to hospitals.

Mohammed Khalid, a senior official with state-owned Pakistan Railways, said residents and police had transported at least 12 bodies and about 50 injured to hospitals, and that some of the injured were listed in critical condition.

Khalid said residents and some of the injured had blamed the bus driver for the accident.

"Our first priority was to shift the injured people to hospitals, which we have done. Now we are investigating exactly whose fault caused this tragedy," he said.

Akram said no one was hurt on the train, which was en route to Lahore from Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistan has an antiquated railroad system and accidents are common. In one of the deadliest, about 133 people died in July 2005 when three trains collided in southern Pakistan.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com