4 injured as blast derails 6 Jaffar Express bogies in Balochistan’s Mastung

QUETTA: At least four people were injured as a blast derailed six bogies of the Jaffar Express near Spezand town in the Dasht tehsil of Balochistan’s Mastung district, according to officials.

With a rise in terrorist attacks over the past few years, Balochistan has seen a series of incidents where militants blow up train tracks, targeting the province’s transport infrastructure.

Balochistan Health Department and Quetta Civil Hospital spokesperson Dr Waseem Baig told Dawn.com: “Three people were injured in the blast and have been shifted to the Civil Hospital Trauma Centre, while an injured child has been taken to Combined Military Hospital.”

Muhammad Kashif, Pakistan Railways’ Quetta division public relations officer, told Dawn.com that a railway track was blown up with explosives in the town of Spezand, derailing six bogies.

“The train was coming from Peshawar to Quetta and there were 270 passengers on board,” he said, adding that a relief train was dispatched from Quetta after the explosion, while a team of officers, rescue trucks and private cranes was also rushed to the spot for relief operations.

He said the work of repairing the railway track and removing the bogies would begin in daylight tomorrow, while an investigation into the incident was launched.

Kashif said security forces had cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.

A similar incident occurred last month when six bogies were derailed near the same location.

That incident had come just three days after a Quetta-bound Jaffar Express narrowly escaped a disaster in Balochistan’s Sibi, where a bomb planted near the track exploded just after the passenger train passed.

In another near-miss incident on July 24, a powerful explosion ripped through the Quetta-Sibi rail section, damaging a bogie of the Bolan Mail. Staff Report