Four persons have been arrested in connection with the explosion that derailed the Thar Express in Pakistan, with investigators saying that a major tragedy could have occurred if the device had not exploded before the arrival of the train, bound for Mirpurkhas in India.
The 500-gram explosive device went off 22 minutes before the train's arrival near Dhabaji in the Sindh province in the early hours of Saturday.
“What we know is that two persons not identified as yet had placed the two explosive devices weighing 500 and 200 grams near a bridge on the track, which is in an isolated place,” said Riaz Shaikh, an official of the bomb disposal squad in Hyderabad. “Luckily the 500-gram explosive device went off before the arrival of the train, blowing up nearly a nearly five-feet-long portion of the track.”
