Scary roads: Four die, 45 injured in bus and oil tanker collision

Two die in a pile-up involving around 10 vehicles near Kala Shah Kaku Interchange

MULTAN/ SHEIKHUPURA:

Four people died and 45 were injured in a fire that erupted after a speeding bus collided with an oil tanker near Vehari at around 9:30am on Tuesday.

Police and Rescue-1122 were informed about the incident. Police said a bus owned by Al-Junaid Transport was on its way to Bahawalnagar from Multan when it rammed into an oil tanker approaching from the opposite direction. The accident occurred a few kilometres away from Vehari district, near Adda Ghulam Hussain, on Multan Road.

Police said the bus and the oil tanker were completely wrecked.

Rescue-1122 officials said they had had to saw away the body of the bus to rescue the injured passengers. They said the injured included several women and children. They were taken to the Vehari District Headquarter Hospital.

As the injured passengers were brought to the hospital, the DHQ hospital management declared an emergency and called for citizens to donate blood.

Rescue-1122 officials said 10 people were critically injured and were referred to Nishtar Hospital in Multan.

The deceased were identified as Naseem Bibi, 35, a resident of Chishtian, Saifaan Bibi, 40, a resident of Sanawan Kot Addu, Ameer Bakhsh, 45, a resident of Dera Ghazi Khan, and Nazir, 33, a resident of Bahawalnagar.

MNA Tahir Iqbal Chauhdry, MPA Mian Saqib Khursheed, Vehari DCO Nasir Jamal Hotiaana and Vehari DPO Muhammad Sadiq Dogar visited the hospital to inquire about the injured.

People who saw the accident occur blamed the traffic police.

Muhammad Amin, one of the bystanders, said there were sugarcane purchase centres on both sides of the road where the accident had occurred. “There were several tractor-trolleys loaded with sugarcane on either side of the road…that had squeezed the road for the traffic.” He said there had been several accidents on the road since the centres were established.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the accident at Adda Ghulam Hussain, Vehari, and expressed grief over the loss of lives. He expressed condolences and sympathies with the bereaved families and directed the administration to provide the best treatment facilities to the injured.

Sheikhupura

Two people died and 15 were injured in a pile up involving a bus and nine other vehicles at the Kala Shah Kaku Interchange on the Motorway, near Sheikhupura, on Tuesday.

Rescue-1122 officials said the accident had occurred because of poor visibility in heavy fog at around 7:30am on the road. They said that they took out the injured passengers and took them to the Lahore, Muridke and Sheikhupura THQ hospitals.

The Motorway Police had partially closed the motorway for traffic on Tuesday. The accident occurred within an hour of traffic resuming on the motorway.

Two men, Khalid Ahmed and Aftab Alvi, died on the spot.Three of those injured, Muhammad Riaz, Owais and Azhar, were taken to the Sheikhupura DHQ hospital’s emergency ward. Azhar was later referred to Lahore General Hospital because he had sustained a head injury. A Rescue-1122 team cleared a lane to remove vehicles from the motorway using a crane.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2016.