A train in Sindh's Ghotki district smashed into derailed carriages of another train on Monday, killing at least 40 people, in the latest accident to highlight the perilous state of the country's more than 165-year-old railway system.

Several people were still trapped in the mangled wreckage near Daharki, in a remote part of rural Sindh, which took rescue workers with specialist equipment hours to reach.

Rail accidents on the decrepit system are common. The network has seen decades of decline due to corruption, mismanagement and lack of investment.

More than 300 people were killed and 700 injured in 1990 when an overloaded 16-carriage inter-city train crashed into a stationary freight train near Sukkur.

More recently, at least 75 people died when a train caught fire while travelling from Karachi to Rawalpindi in October 2019.

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Header image: Soldiers and volunteers work at the site of a train collision in Ghotki district, Monday, June 7. — AP