Three passenger trains collided early Wednesday near Ghotki in Pakistan's southern Sindh province,leaving at least 119 people dead and 130 others injured.

However, the state-owned Pakistan TV earlier quoted Agha Mohammad Tahir, Ghotki district police officer, as saying "Over 200 people were killed and nearly 1,000 others were injured. The death toll may rise further."

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 Railways Chairman Shakil Durrani told reporters that at least 13 train carriages were derailed.

He said that investigations have been ordered to know causes ofthe accident but another railway official said the crash was caused by a train conductor misreading a signal.

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

Relief helicopters and dozens of ambulances are involved in therescue. Two special relief trains, one from Multan in Punjab province and another from Rohri, about 100 kilometers southwest ofGhotki, are being sent to take stranded survivors to their destinations.

Pakistan Army troops, paramilitary forces, police and other lawenforcement personnel have been called out for the relief operation.

The rescue work is efficient and smooth. The stranded passengers have already been moved to their respective destinations and the track is being cleared and the down track service has already been restored.

The bodies of all the deceased have been collected from the crash site. All the injured have been moved from small hospitals to a big hospital nearby. The Pakistan Railways authorities have to a large extent cleared the debris and the rail traffic on one of the tracks has already opened.

President General Pervez Musharraf later Wednesday expressed deep sorrow and grief over loss of lives in the tragic accident and vowed to deal with the defaulters sternly.

"We are extremely sorry for this national loss and national tragedy. We need to ascertain realities and take action against defaulters and try to make sure that such things do not recur," Musharraf told reporters in Karachi.

He stressed that corrective measures need to be taken and if atall there is negligence any individual or individuals responsible must be dealt with sternly for causing so much loss to the nation.

He ruled out the possibility of sabotage, saying it does not seem to be a case of sabotage according to initial information.

An inquiry is being commissioned immediately to ascertain the cause of the accident, Musharraf added.

Musharraf announced the government's compensations for the deadand injured. He said 100,000 rupees (about 1,700 US dollars) will be given to the heirs of each dead and 50,000 rupees (850 dollars)given to each injured.

While State Minister for Railways Ishaq Khakwani announced 200,000 rupees (about 3,400 dollars) and 100,000 rupees compensation for the dead and injured respectively in train accident.

He said the Pakistan Railways will provide all medical treatment facility to the injured and bear all expenditure.

Ishaq added that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who is on a visitto Europe has also issued directives by telephone to provide all possible relief to the affected people.

Ghotki is thought to be a dangerous point in the country's railway network and the site of repeated accidents over the past decade.

A train carrying 800 passengers from Karachi to Lahore ran intoa 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