Pakistan train services disrupted

The train derailed going over a bridge

Pakistani railway officials are working to restore services to the south-western city of Quetta after a major accident on Thursday,

Independent reports say 14 people died and at least 60 were injured when an express train from Rawalpindi derailed near the town of Sibi.

Relatives waited for news at Quetta station

However, railway officials put the death toll lower.

Officials said the train had gone off the tracks as it was crossing a bridge, although they said it was unclear what had caused the accident.

All train services from Quetta except one have been cancelled.

The BBC's Azizullah Khan, reporting from Quetta, quotes local army officials as saying a normal service on the line is unlikely to be restored until Saturday at the earliest.

Survivors

Rescue operations were hampered by the remoteness of the site of the accident.

The train was believed to be carrying some 600 passengers.

The chief railway controller in Quetta, Jalil ur Rahman, said many people who survived the derailment simply walked to the main road adjacent to the track and got transport to the nearest big towns.

Some of those who were injured made their own way to hospital in Quetta or other big towns to get better medical treatment, rather than use local facilities in Sibi.

Although the cause of the accident is not known, the Railways Minister Javed Ashraf hinted that it could be sabotage.

However, other officials said the bridge on which the accident happened may have been weak.

One survivor said that there was a sudden jolt as the train engine crossed the bridge, after which the carriages came off.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in train accidents in the country in the last 10 years, many of them caused by faulty equipment or human error.