The Pakistani president and the prime minister expressed their deep sense of shock and sorrow over the loss of lives in one of the country's most serious train collision accidents Wednesday.

President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz directed the concerned authorities to immediately launch relief operations and provide best possible treatment to the injured, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Both Musharraf and Aziz ordered a probe into the accident to ascertain the cause behind it.

The tragedy occurred at about 4 a.m. (2300 GMT) at Sarhad station near Ghotki, about 600 kilometers northeast of Karachi, provincial capital of Sindh. A Quetta Express was static in the station for repair when a Karachi Express collided with it from the rear.

The Quetta Express was bringing passengers from the eastern city of Lahore to the southwestern city of Quetta, when it developed a technical problem. Technicians were working on the train when it was hit by the Karachi Express, a night-coach passenger train bringing people from Lahore to the southern port city of Karachi.

The collision caused three carriages to derail and spill over onto another track where they were struck by the third train Tezgam, which was carrying people from Karachi northward to Rawalpindi, twin city of Islamabad.

Ghotki is located on the boundaries between the provinces of Sindh and Punjab and the crash happened when most of the passengers were asleep.

Pakistan TV (PTV) quoted an unnamed Interior Ministry secretary as saying that the crash killed 107 people and injured 110 more. Military spokesman Shaukat Sultan said the accident left over 100 dead and another 100 injured.

However, the state-owned TV earlier quoted Agha Mohammad Tahir, Ghotki district police officer, as saying "Over 200 people were killed and nearly 1000 others were injured. The death toll may rise further."

One relief helicopter and dozens of ambulances are involved in the rescue. Two special relief trains, one from Multan in Punjab province and another from Rohri, about 100 kilometers southwest of Ghotki, are being sent to take stranded survivors to their destinations.

All train service in the area has been suspended and arrangements are being made to use alternate routes. An emergency cell has been established at Pakistan Railways headquarters in Lahore to coordinate the rescue work.

Pakistan Army troops, paramilitary forces, police and other law enforcement personnel have been called out for the relief operation. The dead bodies and the injured are being shifted to hospitals in nearby towns.

Wednesday's tragedy is one of the most deadly railway accidents which have taken place near Ghotki in the past decade.

A train carrying 800 passengers from Karachi to Lahore ran into a parked freight train at Ghotki on June 8, 1991, killing more than 100 people.

In December 1989, a train crash near Sangi, a town about 50 kilometers from Ghotki, killed 400 people.

Source: Xinhua