The driver of the Tezgam driver revealed how the train caught fire on Thursday, resulting in the deaths of 74 persons and several getting injured.
Speaking to Geo News, Mohammad Siddiq, Tezgam’s driver, said that the bogies caught fire after a cylinder exploded.
“The train bogies caught fire at 06:18 AM,” he said.
Siddiq said that the number of casualties rose as rescue teams were delayed. He said that those bogies that caught fire were separated from the rest so that the rest of the train remained safe.
Meanwhile, an eyewitness claimed that it wasn’t the cylinder blast that ignited the train bogies. He said that a short circuit had caused the bogies to catch fire.
In a video that went viral, the eyewitness claimed that the fire could not be attributed to the gas cylinder blast as all the cylinders were emptied at the station.
The fire broke out in the AC sleeper where the cylinders were not allowed, he said adding that they were told by railway personnel that it was infact due to a short circuit in the ceiling fan.
He claimed the fan had not been repaired for the past four days.
The eye witness added, there were no fire extinguishers in the carriages and rejected the railways minster’s statement that tableeghi jamaat passengers were behind the incident.
At least 73 people were killed and dozens wounded after a passenger train erupted in flames in central Pakistan on Thursday enroute to Rawalpindi from Karachi.
Television footage showed flames pouring out of the carriages as people could be heard crying in the incident near Rahim Yar Khan district in Punjab province.
