Pakistan Tezgam Express train cylinder blast killed 73 eyewitness disputes statement

Islamabad: The Tejgam Express going from Karachi to Rawalpindi suddenly caught on Thursday (31 October) in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province. So far, the reason for the fire was being told to burst the gas cylinder in the train coach.

But an eyewitness, referring to the cause of the fire, has rejected the statements of the Railway Administration and the Railway Minister. Eyewitnesses claimed that the train was on fire due to a short-circuit in the ceiling fan.

According to the 92 News report, eyewitnesses said that the reports of gas cylinder leakage or explosion were false. In contrast, Pakistan Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid and other passengers said that there was a fire due to the cylinder blast in the rail.

An official of the Pakistan Railways confirmed that the fire was caused by an explosion in a gas cylinder and the fire erupted after the explosion also engulfed two other coaches.

A railway official said that the passenger train Tejgam caught fire near the urban area of Liaquatpur. He said that a passenger in the train was carrying a gas cylinder with him, in which an accident occurred due to the explosion.

So far the death toll in this accident has reached 73. According to Geo News sources, 10 bodies have been identified, while many bodies have not been identified yet. The fire destroyed three coaches of the train, two in economy class coaches and one in business class.

Pakistan Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid had said that two cooking stoves burst. The food was being cooked, there was cooking oil nearby, which further ignited the fire.

He said that most of the deaths were caused by jumping off the train.

The railway minister said that in the compartment in which the accident took place, people of ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ were traveling. The fire caused great damage to the bogies and they got separated from the train.

This is the second major railway accident in Pakistan this year. In July, 24 people were killed when Akbar Bugti Express going from Lahore to Quetta collided with a freight train at Valhar railway station in Sadikabad tehsil of Punjab province.