KANDHKOT - At least 10 people of the same family were killed while three minors sustained serious injuries when Khushhal Khan Khattak Express slammed into an overloaded rickshaw carrying 15 passengers near Ogahi Larro, Kashmore District in the limits of Kandhkot police B section on Tuesday afternoon.

According to details, a family from taulka Thull district were crossing railway intersection on a rickshaw near Ogahi Larro area when suddenly Khushhal Khan Khattak Express slammed into their rickshaw, resultantly 10 people including Ajeeban, 50, Karima, 25, Rubina, 26, Noorjhan, 35, Zahida, 24, Soni, Mithal and others died on the spot whereas three minors including Aftab, 3, Fida, 2, and Arshad, 4, sustained serious injuries.

Later, rescue teams and police rushed to the site and shifted the bodies and injured to District Health Quarter (DHQ) Kandhkot for treatment. However, bodies were shifted to their hometown.

Local people alleged the mishap was occurred due to negligence of railway staff since there was no any official crossing for public but temporary crossing was made by the villagers for transportation.

Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed Tuesday expressed heartfelt grief over the loss of precious lives in the train-rickshaw collision.

According to spokesman of Pakistan Railways, the people have been advised again and again to cross the unmanned level crossing carefully as it is without any gate to prevent such accidents.

The federal minister prayed Almighty Allah to rest the departed soul in peace and grant patience to the bereaved family members for bearing this irreparable loss with equanimity.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmad laying emphasis on the need to improve the PR infrastructure has said that every Divisional Superintendent (DS) will be responsible for the safety of track in the division under his jurisdiction and punitive action shall be taken against officers who are not performing their duties.

Presiding over a meeting with officers of the Pakistan Railway at DS office Sukkur on Tuesday, Sheikh Rashid said that all the reservation offices across the country would remain open till midnight and provision of clean drinking water will be made available to passengers.

He said all tenders for water filtration plants as well as work on escalators at railway stations would be completed by next month.