At least 12 people were electrocuted while scores of others injured when people sitting on roof of a crowded passenger train were hit by an overhead power line on Sunday in southern Pakistani city of Shikarpur, the private Geo TV reported.

 

 

The train with hundreds of people on board was heading southeast from Jacobabad to Rohri to join a Muharram mourning procession.

 

Many of the passengers were sitting on roof of the train, when an electric wire fell on the train near a rail crossing in Shikarpur, some 380 km northeast of Karachi, the capital of south province Sindh.

 

Initial reports say at least 12 persons died and dozens of others injured in the incident, said the television report.

 

The train was stopped after the incident, and those injured have been rushed to local hospitals.

 

The fatalities and injuries were caused as people were either electrocuted or tossed off the top of the moving train after they were hit by the high voltage power line, said the report.

 

Sunday, the eighth day of Muharram which is the first month in Islamic calendar, is marked by mourning processions held countrywide by Shia Muslims according to their religious tradition.

 

On the ninth day of Muharram (Jan. 29), Shia Muslims will hold bigger mourning processions. And Jan. 29-30 have been officially announced as the holidays for Ashura-e-Muharram.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 29, 2007)