‘Hero’ family that rushed to aid Pakistan train collision victims

Ali Nawaz’s family lives 500 metres from railway tracks and helped the crash victims in the southern Sindh province.

As an express train hurtled through farmland in Pakistan and smashed into the carriages of another service that had derailed minutes earlier, a family of nearby villagers was jolted awake. “The blast of the collision was so loud that we woke up in panic,” said Ali Nawaz, describing the start of a frantic bid to help passengers from the wreckage of the double disaster. “When we came out of the house we saw the train had halted, as we got closer to the scene we heard people calling for help.”