QUETTA, Pakistan – At least 15 persons were killed and over 100 injured as a Rawalpindi-bound Jaffar Express derailed near Aab-e-Gum Railway Station in Bolan district Tuesday noon.

The initial cause of the accident was reported break failure.

Hospital sources confirmed 10 casualties besides injuries to over 100 who were brought to civil hospitals in Mach and Quetta, and Combined Military Hospital.

Pakistan Railways Quetta Divisional Superintendent Mir Faiz Muhammad Khan Bugti said that the driver and assistant driver of the locomotive and some Railway Police personnel were also among the dead while 53 were injured, mostly passengers.

Talking to media, he said the accident occurred due to failure of breaks. He said along with the locomotive, 7 out of total 9 bogies of the train were badly damaged.

Muhammad Kashif, Chief Controller of Pakistan Railways Quetta Division, told APP via telephone that the accident occurred in the area between Mach and Aab-e-Gum Railway Station at 11:25 am. All the 9 bogies and the locomotive derailed and then fell down.

He said the train got over-shot due to a slope in a mountaineous area.

He said he was supervising the rescue operation, and teams had shifted the dead and injured to Mach Civil Hospital. About 300 passengers were aboard, and relief trains from Quetta and Sibi had been dispatched to the site of the incident, he added.

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said 2 helicopters were also participating in the rescue operation.

According to Inter-Services Public Relations, a number of injured were brought to the Combined Military Hospital Quetta.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch has expressed grief over the incident and directed the authorities concerned to provide all available medical treatment facilities to the injured. He also sympathized with families of the dead.

Provincial Health Minister Mir Rehmat Saleh Baloch said an emergency had been declared in hospitals at Quetta, Mach, and Sibi