By Charlotte Greenfield

ISLAMABAD A passenger train derailed in southern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 80, local broadcaster Geo reported citing a district official.

Around 10 cars of a passenger train derailed in Nawabshah district in the southern province of Sindh, roughly 275 km (170 miles) from the country's largest city Karachi.

Geo reported some people were still trapped inside a train car and others had been transferred to hospitals. Train services to the interior districts of Sindh had been suspended and rescuers dispatched to the area.

Accidents on Pakistan's decaying rail system are common and successive governments have for years been trying to secure funds to upgrade the rail network as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative for infrastructure projects.

A major train crash in Sindh in 2021 killed 56 people and injured more than 100.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Tom Hogue and Alex Richardson)