ISLAMABAD – A fire has swept through a Pakistani train, killing at least 46 people after a gas canister passengers were using to cook breakfast exploded, police said.
District police chief Amir Taimur Khan said the death toll reached 46 after the blaze destroyed three of the train’s carriages near the town of Rahim Yar Khan on Thursday.
“Most deaths occurred from people jumping off the train,” he added.
Baqir Husain, the head of the district rescue service, said 15 people were injured.
Pakistan’s colonial-era railway network has fallen into disrepair in recent decades due to chronic under-investment and poor maintenance.
Eleven people were killed in an accident on July and four in another accident on September.
Around 130 people were killed in 2005 when a train rammed into another at a station in Sindh province, and a third train hit the wreckage.(Reuters)
