Public safety: Four dead in accident near OLMT construction site

Police say dumper involved in accident was not in OLMT contractor’s use

LAHORE: At least four people including two children were killed and four others injured in a collision involving a rickshaw, two motorcycles and a dumper near an Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) construction site on GT Road in Baghbanpura on Sunday.

Witnesses said the rickshaw and the two motorcycles were hit head-on by a dumper near Daroghawala. They said the rickshaw driver and the motorcyclists lost control over their vehicles. The commuters suffered severe injuries and were taken to a hospital where four of them were pronounced dead.

The truck driver managed to flee before a police team arrived at the scene. The vehicle was impounded by the police.

The deceased were identified as Noman, 10; Abdullah, 12; Rasheed, 25; and Shehzad Aurangzaib, 40. Aamir Husain, 35; Waseem, 32; Razzaq, 23; and Shamim, 30, suffered injuries in the accident.

Later, a crowd blocked the road in a protest against poor safety standards at the nearby OLMT construction site. They chanted slogans against the OLMT contractor saying that the dumper was working on the metro train track. The protesters said several accidents had occurred in the area because of the construction at the OLMT track. They said some of them had raised the issue with their councillor but no action had been taken about it.

The protest ended after a team from Baghbanpura police arrived at the scene and assured the demonstrators that an impartial inquiry would be held in the matter.

The police team investigating the matter dispelled the suggestion that the dumper belonged to a contractor working on the OLMT project. They said the dumper had belonged to a private contractor.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and gave authorities concerned a day to submit report on investigation of the accident.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2016.