A woman who was killed on Monday afternoon in a brutal train accident has been identified.
Her name is Khalida Shamim, and is the wife of a senior Accounts Officer in the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). According to the in-charge of the Railway Police, Drigh Road kiosk, Irshad Baig said that even though it seemed she had tried to kill herself, the family gave information and further investigation, pointed to other facts.
A resident of Mehmoodabad, Khalida had gone to meet some relatives who lived near Baloch Colony, and for this she had to cross the railway tracks, Baig told The News. He said when she was returning, there were two trains coming from opposite directions, one from Lahore, and one going out of Karachi. “She was apparently crossing the line carelessly, and someone had shouted out to her to get off the track. When she did, she tripped and fell over the stones, the train could not stop in time, and she died a brutal death,” said Baig.
According to the information, the woman’s face was completely skinned off because of the powerful impact of the train, and her head was completely severed. She was kept in the Edhi morgue, till her relatives found out through electronic media channels that a woman had been found.
Inspector Irshad says that according to official records around 28 people have been killed by train accidents in the past seven months. “These are the people whose bodies we have found. Some others who have died and not been taken by the Edhi or Chhipa workers, instead their relatives have taken them home before we could reach the spot, so we have not counted those bodies for the record,” he said.
According to Inspector Irshad, train accidents were not like road accidents. “People are liable to get upto six months of prison, if they get on the tracks. This is violation of law, and they can receive penalty under Section 122 CrPc. Th CDGK has not built any bridges either to help people cross, but sometimes it is the public which does not bother to be careful with their own lives.”
Source: The News
Date:7/23/2008
