KARACHI: A passenger bus ran over three young friends near Akbar Road in Saddar on Sunday afternoon, sparking a riot. All three friends were on a motorcycle and were driving back from Empress Market where they had gone to buy kits.
“They met the tragedy while trying to overtake the bus, which was a wrong decision on their part,” witnesses said.
The bus of route No. 2-D, bearing the registration number JA-1427, hit the motorcycle from the front. Two of the boys died at the spot while one succumbed to his injuries at Civil Hospital, Karachi. The driver and conductor left the bus and escaped.
Following the accident, shopkeepers and residents resorted to rioting - they broke its windows and then set it on fire. The mob dispersed when the police arrived at the scene.
Police officials said that it was an error by the teenagers and that the crowd tried to attack the bus driver and the conductor but they were able to escape.
The deceased friends were identified as Taimoor, 17, son of Ghulam Nabi, 13-year-old Sami, son of Javed, and 14-year-old Adeel, son of Naseem.
The Preedy police said that Sami was riding the motorcycle, who was a class-VIII student at the St Paul’s High School. He was the eldest among three siblings and his father was a retired Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited employee.
Meanwhile, Taimoor used to buy clothes from garment factories and supply them to shops. His father dyes clothes as a profession. Adeel was also a class-VIII student at the YMCA Secondary School and he, too, had four other siblings.
Saddar Town SP Irshad Ali Raza Sehar told The Express Tribune that the police have registered a case against the driver responsible and have started looking for him. He said that the police was investigating the matter and after investigations, the case would also be registered against the mob for a creating law and order situation and torching the bus.
Their bodies were handed over to their families after the medico-legal formalities and they were buried the same evening. Joint funeral prayers were held for the three victims at the Gulzar Masjid near the Sindh Muslim Government Law College.
Relatives, neighbours and political representatives also took part in the prayers. They were all buried in the graveyard at Korangi No. 1.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2011.
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