Islamabad, March 25 (IANS) As many as 26 passengers were injured after seven coaches of Karachi-bound Tezgam derailed near Adam Wahan Railway Station on Bahawalpur-Lodhran section in Pakistan's Punjab province, local media reported on Wednesday.

Five bogies of the train, heading from Lahore to Karachi, overturned on Tuesday night. Following the incident, Lodhran Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hafiz, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Liaquat Gilani, the DPO and Rescue 1122 officials rushed to the site for conducting rescue operation, Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported.

Some of the passengers who were trapped in five overturned coaches were being rescued. Pakistan Railway’s PRO Kaleem Ahmed said that no death was reported in the incident while the injured people were being provided medical aid by the rescuers. Lodhra Rescue 1122 media coordinator Muhammad Safdar said that 26 passengers were injured in the incident.

He said, "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."

Lodhran ADC Liaquat Gilani said that nine passengers were rushed to the DHQ hospital for the treatment while the rest were given first aid on the spot. Speaking to Dawn, he said that Lodhran DHQ Hospital’s wards with a capacity of 35 beds had been reserved for the victims of the train accident.

The Pakistan Railways spokesperson has not mentioned the reason behind the train's derailment. The spokesperson said that cause of the train derailment will be determined following the probe, which has been ordered by railway officials.

However, some eyewitnesses claimed that the couplers between the bogies broke away dividing the trains in two parts, Dawn reported. After the division of the train into two parts, five of the seven coaches attached with the engine derailed. The authorities suspended the railway traffic on the impacted railway track and a relief train has been sent from Samasatta railway junction.

--IANS

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