KARACHI: A goods train carrying chemicals from the Iranian border town of Taftan to Pakistan has derailed in the restive Balochistan province, prompting authorities to suspend the rail operations between the two nations.
The accident happened on Saturday near the Tozgi station in Balochistan.
"The derailment took place around 70 kilometres from Taftan and we are not ruling out a terrorist attack," Pakistan Railways spokesperson Amir Baloch said while speaking to the reporters.
The derailment of the cargo train carrying phosphorus and other chemicals from Iran to Pakistan caused significant damage to the locomotive, the staff rest coach and a few other wagons with the cargo.
The accident happened just a day after a gruesome terror attack on the Noshki highway in the province on Friday night when militants abducted 9 labourers from the Punjab province from a passenger bus and took them into the mountains before killing them in cold blood.
The labourers were identified by their national identity cards by the perpetrators before taking them and killing them.
Two other people who were driving a private vehicle were also shot at and were killed on the highway.
The militants had also damaged a railway track near Noshki.
Baloch said restoration work was yet to begin as the railway workers engineers were on standby after the area was cordoned off.