RAJANPUR: Three passengers including a child were killed and 18 others sustained injuries, eleven of them seriously, after a remote-controlled bomb planted under the track hit Khushhal Khan Khattak Express near Kotla Hassan Shah on Friday morning.

According to DCO Rajanpur Ghazi Amanullah, six coaches of the Peshawar-Karachi train derailed after the explosion and four of them were damaged badly, almost 40 kilometres away from Rajanpur city.

Civil defence officials said that it was a remote-controlled device planted three feet under the track and connected by an almost 500 feet long wire. The blast left almost a five feet deep crater at the site.

They, however, did not elaborate further saying investigations were in progress.

Railways officials said that Irfan (60) s/o Gohar Zaman r/o Mardan, Inayatullah (20) s/o Sher Mohammad Afridi r/o Peshawar and six-year old child Salman s/o Amanullah r/o Kund Kot (Sindh) were killed in the accident.

Eighteen passengers were injured and eleven of them were admitted to DHQ hospital by Rescue 1122 due to serious condition. They included Abdul Ghaffar (30) s/o Abdul Jabbar r/o KPK, Zakia (25) wife of Inam Ahamd r/o DG Khan, Saba (30) wife of Nazir r/o Kandh Kot (Sindh), Zakia (45) wife of Safeer Khan r/o KPK, Safeer Khan (45) s/o Zabit Khan, Razina (28) wife of Zakir r/o Karachi, Qudrat Khan (25) r/o Peshawar, Hassan Taraj (69) w/o Fazal Subhan r/o Karachi, Naz Bibi (45) wife of Gul Faraz r/o Karachi, Harris (24) s/o Gul Faraz r/o Karachi, and Sayed Gul Hassan (45) s/o Bilal r/o Rojhan Mazari.

The rest of the seven passengers with minor injuries were discharged after first aid, hospital sources said. The incident occurred at around 9:35/36 am Friday morning near Mouza Kotla Hassan Shah on the rail track between Umarkot and Kot Mithan railway stations.

Two relief trains from Multan and Sukkur were on way to the site while technical teams of Railways Multan, Lahore, DG Khan and Sukkur were engaged in restoring the damaged track.

Meanwhile, officials said that the passengers of the train were being transported to Kashmore by vehicles and buses of police, educational institutions, Rescue 1122 and others. They would board a train at Kashmore to reach Karachi.

(APP)