Seven killed, 29 injured as speeding coach turns turtle

Police and passengers blame the driver's recklessness for the mishap

HYDERABAD: As reckless driving continues to spill blood over highways, seven persons of 35 to 50 years of age were killed on Tuesday with 29 others injured as a passenger bus overturned in Hyderabad. Two of the injured are in the intensive care unit of Liaquat University Hospital in Hyderabad.

The incident happened on the National Highway near Miani Forest in the outskirts of Hyderabad within the limits of the Hatri police station. "We shifted at least three bodies and many others in an injured condition to the hospital," said Mairaj, the Edhi Foundation in-charge.

The hospital's spokesperson confirmed the deaths of seven persons, who included two brothers, 30-year old Waseem Khan and 35-year-old Akhtar Khan, 35-year-old Shafique Khan, 40-year-old Abdul Majeed Malik, two unidentified men and an unidentified woman.



Among the 29 injured, 18 suffered bone injuries and fractures while nine sustained head injuries and were admitted to the neurosurgery ward.

According to the police and the injured passengers, the non-air conditioned coach, which was carrying passengers from Bahawalpur to Karachi, was over speeding. They blamed the driver's recklessness for the accident.

"The passengers requested the driver [whose identity is still not known] to slow down several times. But he didn't listen," said Abdullah Khan, a 30-year-old passenger who was injured.

Most of the passengers belonged to Bahawalpur, said another injured passenger, Jamil Ahmed, 30.



The coach bore the registration number BYA-111. The police are yet to register an FIR of the incident.

Nearly two dozen people have lost their lives in accidents on the highways of Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas divisions over a week. In Mirpurkhas district alone, eight persons were killed in separate accidents last week. The deceased included a family of four comprising of father, mother and two children, whose motorcycle was hit by a truck.

Despite the ever increasing casualties, condition of the highways and inter-district roads remains poor, which is further abetted by a poor state of traffic regulation.