74 people die after train catches fire

MULTAN, PAKISTAN » A raging fire swept through a train in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province on Thursday, killing 74 people, and survivors said afterward it took nearly 20 minutes for the train to stop amid contradictory reports about the condition of the train’s brakes.

Three carriages were consumed by flames from a fire caused by a cooking gas stove and dozens of people jumped in panic from the speeding train.

Conductor Sadiue Ahmed Khan told The Associated Press the train’s emergency breaking system was in perfect working order and the train stopped within three minutes after the first signs of fire.

“This is the worst tragedy in my life as a driver,” he said.

Investigators said they will be looking at the train’s braking system to determine its condition at the time of the fire. Survivors recounted pulling at emergency cords that weave through the train to notify the conductor, but they said the train continued to speed down the tracks.

Ghulam Abbas, a passenger who had gotten on the train in the town of Nawabshah in neighboring Sindh province with his wife and two children, echoed other passengers who said it took nearly 20 minutes for the train to stop.

He recounted watching panicked passengers jumping off the speeding locomotive.

“We learned afterward that most of them had died,” he said.

The train, which was traveling from the southern Arabian Sea port city of Karachi to Rawalpindi, just 6 miles from the federal capital, was carrying 857 passengers. Most of the dead were members of Tableeqi- e-Jamaat, an organization of Islamic missionaries.