ISLAMABAD, July 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Wednesday expressed their deep sense of shock and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in a train collision in the country's southern Sindh province.

    They directed the concerned authorities to immediately launch relief operations and provide best possible treatment to the injured, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

    Both Musharraf and Aziz ordered a probe into the accident to ascertain the cause behind it.

    In the early hours of Wednesday, three passenger trains collided near Ghotki, about 600 kilometers northeast of Karachi, provincial capital of Sindh, leaving over 100 people dead and 100 more injured.

    However, the state-owned Pakistan TV quoted Agha Mohammad Tahir,Ghotki district police officer, as saying "Over 200 people were killed and nearly 1000 others were injured. The death toll may rise further."

    All train service in the area has been suspended and arrangements are being made to use alternate routes. An emergency cell has been established at Pakistan Railways headquarters in Lahore to coordinate the rescue work.

    Pakistan Army troops, paramilitary forces, police and other lawenforcement personnel have been called out for the relief operation. The dead bodies and the injured are being shifted to hospitals in nearby towns.

    Wednesday's tragedy is one of the most deadly railway accidents which have taken place near Ghotki in the past decade.

    A train carrying 800 passengers from Karachi to Lahore ran intoa parked freight train at Ghotki on June 8, 1991, killing more than 100 people.

    In December 1989, a train crash near Sangi, a town about 50 kilometers from Ghotki, killed 400 people. Enditem