The Sukkur rail disaster occurred on 4 January 1990 in the village of Sangi near

Sukkur Sukkur (; ) is a city in the Pakistani province of Sindh along the western bank of the Indus River, directly across from the historic city of Rohri. Sukkur is the third largest city in Sindh after Karachi and Hyderabad, and 14th largest city ...

in the

Sindh Province Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

of Pakistan. 307 people were killed, making it Pakistan's worst rail disaster. The train concerned (

Bahauddin Zakaria Express ''Bahauddin Zakaria Express'' ( Seraiki, ur, ) is a passenger train operated daily bSSR Groupbetween Karachi and Multan. The trip takes approximately 16 hours and 5 minutes to cover a published distance of , traveling along a stretch of the ...

) was on an overnight run from

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the olde ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

and was carrying many more passengers in its 16 carriages than its 1408-seat capacity. It was supposed to pass straight through the village of Sangi but incorrectly set rail points sent it into a siding where it collided with an empty 67-car freight train at a speed of at least . The first three carriages were destroyed and the next two badly damaged; 307 people were killed and 700 injured. The investigation found railway staff to be 'directly responsible' for the disaster. Three staff on duty at Sangi station were charged with manslaughter.

Sources

At Least 210 Die in Pakistan's Worst Rail Crash
from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''
An improperly set railroad switch is blamed for the early morning collision
from the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

References

{{coord missing, Sindh Train collisions in Pakistan Railway accidents in 1990 1990 disasters in Pakistan Sukkur District Transport in Sindh History of Sindh (1947–present) January 1990 events in Asia Accidents and incidents involving Pakistan Railways