22 killed, over 50 injured in Pakistan's train accident

At least 22 people were killed and over 50 others injured on Sunday after a passenger train derailed in the Sanghar district of Pakistan's southern Sindh province, local police said.

The accident took place when 10 coaches of the Hazara Express train derailed when it was crossing a canal bridge near Sarhari town in the Shahdadpur area of the district, Muhammad Younis Chandio, deputy inspector general of police of the region, told the media.

Following the accident, police and rescue teams rushed to the site, rescued injured passengers stuck in the derailed coaches and shifted them to nearby hospitals.

The official feared that the death toll might further rise as several bodies and injured are still stuck inside the coaches. Some of the coaches have already been cleared, and the rescue workers are using machines to cut the coaches to pull out the wounded and bodies, the official added.

A state of emergency has been declared in the district and other neighboring districts.

The Hazara Express departed from the southern port city of Karachi on Sunday morning and was heading towards the country's eastern Punjab province to pass through to reach its final destination in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Railway traffic has been suspended on both up and down tracks of the railway network, announced Pakistan Railways.

Army Chief General Asim Munir has ordered troops deployed in the nearby areas to rush to the site for rescue work.

An eyewitness told the media that the coaches derailed after the engine of the train was disconnected from them when they were passing over a canal railway bridge.

However, the reason for the accident is not officially confirmed yet.

Pakistan's Minister for Railway Khawaja Saad Rafique told the media that he has ordered an inquiry into the accident and would share details once received from the site.