The Ghotki rail crash occurred on July 13, 2005, at around 3:40am local time (2240 July 12 UTC) in Ghotki, Pakistan. A train stopping at the Sarhad (a town near Ghotki) rail station was hit from behind by a train that missed a signal. The collision caused several of the cars to derail. The derailed cars were subsequently hit by a third train, which resulted in a total of seventeen wrecked train cars, which carried over 3000 passengers and the whole staff of Sarhad railway station ran away when accident happened.
The train that rammed into the stopped train at the Ghotki station originated in Lahore and was headed for the city of Karachi. The third train involved in the accident was heading from Karachi to Rawalpindi near the country's capital city of Islamabad.
Although the exact death toll may not be known for a couple days, officials are estimating that over 500 people may have died as a result of the accident. Since it is early in the investigation, the exact cause is unknown. However, officials state that the conductor of the second train misread the signal.