At least 20 members of Peshawar's Sikh community were killed on Friday when the Shah Hussain Express train was trying to cross the tracks near Sheikhupura when it collided with their van, police said.
At least 20 people were killed and eight injured, according to the Sheikhupura district police officer.
According to initial reports, 22 members of a family were on their way to Nankana Sahib from Peshawar to attend the forbidden funeral.
Rescue officials said the driver of the van tried to make his way through an unsafe railway crossing instead of the road when the vehicle collided with a Lahore-bound train near Farooqabad railway station.
Imran Gondal, deputy secretary of the Iwakoi Trust Property Board, said all the Sikh passengers were Pakistani citizens and residents of Peshawar.
Gondal said the bodies of those killed in the accident were being shifted to Mayo Hospital Lahore, while the injured were admitted to hospitals in Sheikhupura and Lahore.
Some of the injured are said to be in critical condition and are being treated at the District Headquarters Hospital in Sheikhupura.
According to the BBC, all those killed have been identified as belonging to one family.
The Sheikhupura District Police Officer said that the accident took place due to negligence of the driver.
He said the driver "tried to get on the tracks in a hurry" after the crossing was closed.
Chairman Punjabi Sikh Sangat Gopal Singh also said that the driver was "guilty of the accident".
"The driver got off the main road and tried to cross the track," Singh said.
It was not immediately clear if the driver survived the crash.
Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed grief over the loss of precious lives in the train coach accident and directed the authorities to provide the best medical treatment to the injured.
After the accident, President Dr. Arif Alvi also expressed grief over the loss of lives, urging the officials to provide the best facilities to the victims of the incident.
Punjab Chief Minister Usman Bazdar also expressed regret and said that he has deep sympathy with the victims. He directed to provide best medical treatment to the injured.
Following the accident, the district administration also set up a control room in the deputy commissioner's office.
Train collisions are dangerously common in Pakistan.
On February 28, at least 19 people were killed when a passenger bus collided with a train near Rohri, Sindh.
On July 11 last year, a Quetta-bound train collided with a cargo train near Sadiqabad in Punjab, killing 24 people and injuring more than 100. The accident was later caused by a delay in changing the tracks of the train.
In a similar incident, in December 2018, 12 children were injured when a passenger train collided with a school van near Narowal in Punjab. Local eyewitnesses said the crash was caused by thick fog and that the crossing gate was left open.
In addition to these three incidents of collision in the last two years alone, dozens of people have been killed in train derailments, fires and explosions during the same period.
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