Pakistan Jaffar Express train hijack: Screaming, firing, blast, survivor recounts horror in chilling video

A passenger, who was aboard the Jaffar Express that was hijacked by the separatist militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) on Tuesday, said that he remembers screaming and a lot of commotion inside the carriage. He, along with his wife and children, were asked by the militants to get down the train and not “look back” during the process.

“There was a lot of screaming. People were lying down on the train, and I also did the same. There was firing outside and also a blast,” he said.

The man further narrated that some people were asked to get off the train, and he followed the orders without any protest.

“They asked me to get down, so I did. I (followed the orders) because what if they came inside and began thrashing us? What would we have done then? They let me, my family and my children go. They asked us not to look back, so we didn’t look back,” he said, while noting that he wasn’t aware of what was unfolding behind him on the train.

The BLA, which seeks independence for Pakistan’s Balochistan province, opened fire on the Jaffar Express on Tuesday, which was carrying as many as 425 passengers in nine bogies. The incident happened when the train was passing through the Mashkaf tunnel near the mountainous terrain of Gudalar and Piru Kunri. Before hijacking, the insurgents bombarded the railway track, causing the train to stop in the remote region.

Hundreds of hostages remain in captivity, even as 155 people have been released, news agency AFP reported, citing security sources. A total of 27 militants have been killed in the incident. Security forces continued with their rescue operation to save the hostages.

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