LAHORE: A passenger train crashed into a college van carrying female students at an unmanned railway crossing in eastern Pakistan on Tuesday amid smog, killing three people and injuring seven others, police said.
The accident happened in the district of Sheikhupura in the Punjab province, according to Rana Shakeel, a senior district administration official. He said the dead and injured were taken to a nearby hospital.
Footage on social media showed the badly destroyed van near the railway tracks.
Angered over the accident, residents briefly blocked the railway tracks, delaying some trains. Authorities said they restored the train service and officers are investigating to determine whose negligence caused the accident.
Train accidents are common in Pakistan, where successive governments have paid little attention to improving the poorly maintained signal system and aging tracks.
In June, an express train barreled into another train that had derailed in southern Pakistan, killing about 50 passengers and injuring more than 100 others.
Train hits van in Pakistan, killing 3, injuring 7 students
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Train hits van in Pakistan, killing 3, injuring 7 students
- Footage on social media showed the badly destroyed van near the railway tracks
- Authorities said they restored the train service and officers are investigating the cause the accident
Pakistan’s Sharif congratulates Bangladesh PM hopeful on ‘resounding victory’ in election
- At 60, BNP’s Tarique Rahman is preparing to take charge of Bangladesh, driven by what he calls an ambition to ‘do better’
- The election comes nearly a year and half after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina in a deadly uprising in the South Asian nation
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday congratulated Tarique Rahman on the “resounding victory” of his Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in parliamentary elections, saying that he looked forward to working closely with the new Bangladeshi leadership.
BNP’s media unit said on X Friday it had secured enough seats in Parliament to govern on its own, though rival group Jamaat-e-Islami raised concerns over delayed results. The final tally has not yet been announced by the Election Commission, but several local media outlets reported the BNP crossing the 151-seat threshold needed for a majority in the 300-member Parliament.
BNP is headed by the 60-year-old Rahman, its prime ministerial candidate who returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in self-exile in London. He is the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who died in December.
“I extend my warmest felicitations to Mr. Tarique Rahman on leading the BNP to a resounding victory in the Parliamentary elections in Bangladesh,” Sharif said on X. “I also congratulate the people of Bangladesh on the successful conduct of the elections.”
Sharif’s statement comes amid Islamabad’s efforts to rebuild relations with Bangladesh, amid a thaw in relations between the two countries. Pakistan and Bangladesh were part of the same country until Bangladesh’s secession following a bloody civil war in 1971, an event that long cast a shadow over bilateral ties.
Both countries have moved closer since August 2024 following the ouster of Hasina, who was considered an India ally, in a mass uprising.
“I look forward to working closely with the new Bangladesh leadership to further strengthen our historic, brotherly multifaceted bilateral relations and advance our shared goals of peace, stability, and development in South Asia and beyond,” Sharif said.
