HYDERABAD: Seven­teen carriages of a goods train derailed between Odero Lal and Wahab Shah stations in Matiari district on Tuesday afternoon suspending cargo train services on this sector till late in the evening.

The train was transporting coal stocks from Karachi to Lahore.

According to sources, the accident took place at around 3pm and soon afterwards the Pakistan Railways teams started efforts to bring the carriages back on track with the help of heavy machinery and labourers. The operation was continuing into the night.

No major disruption was caused as passenger trains have been out of operation for weeks on account of the nationwide lockdown for control of coronavirus spread.

Senior PR officials were trying to ascertain reasons for the derailment but could not reach a conclusion immediately.

Quoting PR officials, an APP report said that only nine carriages of the train had derailed in the accident.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2020