HYDERABAD - At least three people were killed and several others sustained critical injuries in a train mishap that occurred near Hyderabad on Thursday evening.

A driver, assistant driver and a guard were killed when Jinnah Express passenger train travelling to Lahore from Karachi hit a goods train that had stopped at a crossing, railway spokesman Riaz Abbasi told reporters.

Minister of Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said all passengers on the train were safe.

As a result of the collision, three persons died on the spot while the injured were taken to a nearby hospital. The engine of the train caught fire soon after the collision, the rescue sources added.

The police and local teams were engaged in shifting the critically injured and dead bodies to hospitals.

The Hyderabad police have identified the three persons who died in the accident between the two trains. According to the police, the deceased include Aslam Chandio, Syed Noman and Yasir Bashir.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Hyderabad Muhammad Abbass Baloch said there are unconfirmed reports of death of three more persons in the accident.

At 7pm, locomotive traffic remained suspended on the up- and down-country tracks as the tracks had not been completely cleared of the wreckage and debris. Passengers remained stranded at the Hyderabad and Kotri railway stations due to the delay.

Later that evening, in a video statement to address the incident, Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that the tracks had been cleared for traffic and the passengers had been sent on their way.