Train derailment leaves 26 injured in Bahawalpur

BAHAWALPUR: Twenty-six passengers, including one critically, were injured when seven coaches of Karachi-bound Tezgam derailed near Adam Wahan Railway Station on Bahawalpur-Lodhran section on Tuesday night.

The train, coming from Lahore, had its five bogies overturned in the incident.

Immediately after the derailment, Lodhran Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hafiz, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Liaquat Gilani, the DPO and Rescue 1122 officials rushed to the scene for rescue operation.

Some of the passengers trapped in five overturned coaches were being pulled out by the rescuers at the time of the filing of this report at 10:30pm.

Seven bogies of Karachi-bound Tezgam derail, five overturn; nine passengers land in hospital, 17 provided first aid; one passenger critical

According to Pakistan Railway’s PRO Kaleem Ahmed, there was no death while the injured passengers were being provided medical aid by the rescuers.

According to Lodhra Rescue 1122 media coordinator Muhammad Safdar, 26 train passengers suffered injuries.

“Of them, 17 were given first aid on the spot while the remaining nine, including a woman, were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Lodhran where one of the injured was in a serious condition,” he said.

Lodhran ADCG Liaquat Gilani also confirmed that nine passengers, so far, had reached the DHQ hospital while the rest were provided first aid on the spot. He told Dawn by cell phone that Lodhran DHQ Hospital’s wards with a capacity of 35 beds had been reserved for the train accident victims.

Rescue 1122 sources identified the nine hospitalised passengers as Muhammad Khalid, a resident of Gujranwala, Abdul Hamid of Sahiwal, Abid Hussain of Multan, Muhammad Jamil of Lodhran, Aijazzur-Rehman of Tando Adam Khan, Aibad Ali of Sahiwal, Ataullah of Rawalpindi, Farzana of Gujranwala and Ahmed of Lahore.

The Pakistan Railways spokesperson has not revealed the cause of the derailment, saying that the reasons will be ascertained after an inquiry, which has been ordered by railway officials.

However, some eyewitnesses claimed that the derailment was caused when the couplers between the bogies broke away dividing the trains in two parts. With the division of the train into two parts, the seven bogies were attached with the engine and out of them five derailed. After the derailment, screams of the passengers, trapped in five coaches, could be heard. The railway traffic on the affected railway track has been suspended and a relief train has been dispatched from Samasatta railway junction.

Pakistan Railways Divisional Superintendent Multan Muhammad Hanif Gul announced strict action against the railway officials found negligent of the Tezgam derailment. He told the media that an inquiry into the derailment had been launched and after the inquiry, the negligent officials would be taken to task.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2026