73 people were killed after a moving train in Pakistan caught fire because passengers were cooking with gas stoves

Youtube/Pak Rail Tech

Photo shows one of three carriages of a train in Pakistan which caught fire.

• 73 people have died and a further were 47 injured after a train in Pakistan caught fire on Thursday.
• The Minister for Railways, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the fire started after a gas cylinder which was used by the passengers to cook breakfast caught fire, according to the BBC.
• The fire broke out as the train was approaching the town of Liaquatpur in Punjab, according to Sky News.
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73 people have died after a moving train in Pakistan caught fire when two stoves being used by passengers to cook food exploded, a senior Pakistani railway official, who asked not to be named, told Business Insider. 

Pakistani officials first reported the fire at 9:50 a.m. on Thursday, according to The Associated Press.

The train is known as the Tezgam train and was travelling from the city of Karachi across the country to Rawalpindi. 

As well as the 73 deaths, a further 47 people were injured as three of the train's carriages caught fire when it was approaching the town of Liaquatpur in Punjab, the official added.

Google Maps.

A map showing the route of the train and the location where the fire broke out.

The Minister for Railways, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the fire started after a gas cylinder which was used by the passengers to cook breakfast caught fire, according to the BBC.

"Two cooking stoves blew up. They were cooking, they had [cooking] oil which added fuel to fire," said Ahmed, according to the BBC. 

Survivors reported it took the train over twenty minutes to stop after the fire broke out, and some pulled emergency cords and ran to notify the conductor further down the train, according to the Associated Press.

According to several local news reports, many of the victims jumped to their death as the train was still moving.

Video footage from AFP shows the scorched remains of the carriages which caught fire. Rescue teams can be seen on the scene:

The Pakistani Army dispatched doctors and paramedics to assist with rescue missions and sent helicopters to the scene of the incident to evacuate the critically injured, according to local news site The Express Tribune.

President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan offered their condolences to the victims of the train fire. 

Imran Khan said an immediate inquiry has been ordered "to be completed on an urgent basis" on the incident.   

According to the BBC, many of the passengers were travelling to the city of Raiwind to attend a major religious festival. hosted by the Tablighi Jamaat, a Sunni Muslim missionary movement.