14 people killed as train collides with rickshaw

The mangled wreckage of a motorcycle rickshaw lies on the ground after a train collided with the vehicle in Khanpur town of district Sheikhupura, around 40km northwest of Lahore yesterday.

AFP/IslamabadAt least 14 people, including two children, were killed yesterday when a train collided with a packed motorcycle rickshaw in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, officials said. The passenger train travelling from the country’s financial hub Karachi to Punjab capital Lahore crushed the rickshaw on a road crossing which had no barrier. “The accident occurred in Khanpur town of district Sheikhupura, around 40km northwest of Lahore,” Salim Niazi, a local police official, said.  Officials said at least two children were among the dead. “Twelve people died on the spot,” Mohamed Asim, a senior doctor at the local hospital, said.Police said the rickshaw was over-capacity and drove onto the train track moments before the Lahore-bound train passed through, smashing into it. “There was no gate at this crossing, (nor) a man to stop the traffic to clear a way for the train,” said Niazi. Pakistan has a poor railway system.