A man in Pakistan steals a railway locomotive and tries to ram it into a passenger train in an apparent suicide attack.

A man identified as Madan Lal allegedly stole the engine from a marshaling yard outside Karachi.

He is accused of driving towards the Farid Express before his engine was derailed. Police officer Irshad Baig tells Reuters, "God helped us avert a major human disaster."

Authorities were able to derail the engine just two minutes before it would have crashed into the passenger train.

Baig says Lal tried to run away, but he was captured. He says Lal drove the locomotive like an expert for about 20 miles.

Baig tells Reuters, "We don't know as yet what his motive was for this attack. But he apparently knows how to drive a railway engine and had planned it."

Senior Railways police officer Malik Mohammad Afzal says Lal appeared to be mentally unstable.