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Four killed, 43 hurt in H'abad train blast

HYDERABAD: At least four persons including a woman were killed while 43 others sustained multiple injuries on Saturday when a time-device exploded in a bogey of Mirpurkhas bound 97-Up local train some 200 yards from Hyderabad railway junction. Five of the injured are said to be in critical condition.

According to Railway officials, the timer device, planted in the toilet of Coach No: 5507 of Marvi Express, exploded few minutes after the train left the station for Mirpurkhas.

Edhi volunteers claimed that two persons died on the spot while another two breathed their last at the Liaquat Medical College Hospital.

Soon after the blast, some local people of the area immediately rushed to the spot and started rescue operation. They shifted the bodies and injured persons to ambulances of the Edhi Centre and the Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation, from where the injured persons were rushed to LMC hospital city branch, where emergency was declared.

The identification of deceased persons could not be ascertained immediately.

According to hospital sources, out of 43 injured passengers, 31 have so far been identified as Muhammed Aslam s/o Mohammed Yousuf, Shoukat s/o Ghulam Hussain, Nazim, Haji s/o Ismail, Ayoub Khan s/o Abdul Rehman, wife of Bashir Ahmed, Ayaz s/o Iqbal Ahmed, Sajid, Shahid s/o Meindo, Mohammed Sadiq s/o Mohammed Ramzan, Mohammed Ismail s/o Haji Hussain, Habibur Rehman, Wikki s/o Younus, Rashid s/o Raheem Baskhsh, Aliya d/o Abdul Rasheed, Mariam w/o Haji Mohammed Ashraf, Shazia d/o Haleem, Mariam w/o Gulzar, Abdul Sattar s/o Imam Bakhsh, Mohammed Alam s/o Haji Ramzan, Abdul Majeed s/o Ghulam Nabi, Asghar s/o Mohammed, Abdul Kareem s/o Abdul Aziz, Raees Ahmed s/o Chand Khan, Shamshad Ali, Nazia d/o Imriaz, Rahila d/o Rasheed Ahmed, Zubeda d/o Bashir Ahmed, Mohammed Ali s/o Mohammed Bakhsh, Zeeshan s/o Qamaruddin and Javed s/o Bashir Ahmed.

Train Guard Mohammed Shafiq informed the newsmen that when the blast occurred, he immediately applied the vacuum brakes to stop the train. He said the train was schedule to leave Hyderabad Junction at 1245 hours. However, it left 1255 hours and when it reached about 200 yards from the junction, the timer device went off with a big bang.

The seating capacity of the train is 88 passengers. Fortunately, due to holiday, there were lesser number passengers on the train.

A rescue worker, who is the resident of adjacent Gujrati Para of the railway junction informed the newsmen that some area people rushed to the spot and took out the victims by breaking the doors of the coach.

He said the bang of the blast was very intense.

A woman, whose daughter Rahila received injuries, informed newsmen that before the blast, a beggar had entered the toilet of the coach along with a shopping bag and came out after few without the bag.

The Bomb Disposal Squad collected three battery cells and other material, used in timer device.

The railway staff brought the ill-fated train back to the Hyderabad junction and cleared the track for normal traffic after on hour of the incident.

Talking to newsmen, Hyderabad Commissioner Imtiaz Kazi termed the train blast a tragic incident.

He said that the terrorist selected the day when people were observing Kashmir Solidarity Day. He said that enquiry to probe the incident has been started and those, who were involved in terrorism would not be spared.ÑAPP