BATTAGRAM:
At least 14 people lost their lives in a road accident in Kot Gala village on Tuesday.
According to eyewitnesses and Chanjal police, a Battagram-bound van carrying 13 passengers was coming from Thakot. As the van reached Kot Gala village, the vehicle skidded off the road and plunged several hundred feet down a ravine. Witnesses say the driver was attempting to negotiate a blind turn when the accident occurred, killing four passengers on the spot. Ten others, including the driver, sustained serious injuries.
Locals carried out the rescue work and shifted the deceased and injured to District Headquarters Hospital in Battagram after cutting through the wreckage of van. The remaining ten, according to hospital sources, succumbed to their injuries while they were being administered first aid.
Response time
“There would have been fewer casualties had the injured been shifted to the hospital immediately,” a police officer told The Express Tribune. “The ravine was so deep that extricating and moving the bodies and those injured back up to the road took time; that’s why they all died.”
After initial conflicting reports about the number of dead, police personnel deputed at the control room confirmed there were only 13 passengers and a driver on board. The passengers included one minor girl.
Those killed were identified as Saadia Bibi, 6, her mother Nabeela Bibi, the driver Muhammad Khan, Ashfaq, Niaz Muhammad, Adil, Sirajul Haq, Waqar, Shah Khalid, Dawood, Gul Muhammad, Israr, Ibrahim Khan, a resident of Thakot, and Muhammad Ibrahim from Kooza Banda village.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2014.
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