Fourteen killed as train runs into rickshaw near Sheikhupura

SHEIKHUPURA: At least 14 people, including two children, were killed on Saturday when a train collided with a packed motorcycle rickshaw near Sheikhupura, officials said.

The Karakoram Express traveling from the country's financial hub Karachi to Punjab’s capital Lahore mowed down the rickshaw on a barrier-less as well as unmanned railway crossing.

"The accident occurred in Khanpur town of district Sheikhupura, around 40 kilometres northwest of Lahore," said a police official.

Local officials said at least two children were among the dead.

According to a senior doctor, at least 12 people died on the spot, whereas four people with critical injuries were brought to the District Headquarter Hospital, of whom two succumbed to injuries.

"Two of them were children under 12 years old," he said, adding that many bodies were mutilated and unable to be identified.

Police said the rickshaw was over-crowded and drove onto the train track moments before the Lahore-bound train passed through, smashing into it.

"There was no gate at this crossing, (nor) a man to stop the traffic to clear a way for the train," said an eyewitness.

The dead included Waseem (driver), Mukhtar Ahmad, Rani Bibi, Shazia Bibi, Rabia, Nasira and Irum while the identity of others is yet to be ascertained.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq and Federal Minister for Defence Production, Rana Tanveer Hussain have sought a report regarding the tragic incident on immediate basis.