LAHORE, July 17: The triple-train collision at Sarhad station was not an act of terrorism as claimed by Railways Minister Shamim Haider. Sources told Dawn on Sunday “there is a bend in the track around two kilometres from the Sarhad railway station. It becomes difficult especially at night to distinguish between outer and inner signals when one is going at 100 kilometres an hour or so.”

The railways vigilance cell at Ghotki had in its preliminary report submitted to the high-ups on July 14 ruled out the possibility of terrorism, they said.

Minister Haider had on July 13 told journalists at the PR headquarters that some 236 people were killed in a train accident at Sanghi near Ghotki over a decade ago and the possibility of terrorism could not be ruled out.

The minister iterated his claim when three bodies were recovered from under the locomotive of the Karachi Express on Friday last.

“Human error may be the cause of the fatal accident, but it is not an act of terrorism,” sources said.

“The Karachi Express left Mirpur Mathelo at 3.42am while the Tezgam crossed Ghotki at 3.45am and both reached Sarhad station at 3.52am according to the record. The Tezgam driver and fireman are the only eyewitnesses and only they can tell whether or not the Karachi Express driver applied brakes and which signal was red and which was green.

“The forced absence of the two has made the whole inquiry into the fatal accident doubtful. Why the two were being barred from making a statement in the public? Are the authorities hiding something and want to save the real culprits?,” they asked.

At present, they said, it seemed that the collision was the result of the Sukkur control office and Sarhad railway station staff’s negligence.

The relieving station master, ASM Ikhtiar Ahmad, was not present in the control room at the time of collision.

Station Master Maqbool Sheikh was on rest on July 13 and assistant station manager Ikhtiar Ahmad of the relieving pool was sent in his place. But the ASM preferred to take a nap in a quarter and asked the junior staff to look after the control room.

The staff at the Sarhad railway station was under the impression that the Quetta Express would leave before the arrival of the Karachi Express and turned the inner signal green for the latter.

The Sarhad people did not timely intimated the Mirpur Mathelo staff that the Quetta Express was standing on main line. The Mirpur Mathelo staff gave authority to proceed to the Karachi Express, which subsequently resulted in the fatal accident, they said.