A dangerous stretch: Six members of a family killed on Indus Highway

20 others injured when truck collided with a passenger coach

KARACHI: Six members of a family were killed and at least 20 others injured in an accident on the Indus Highway on Wednesday. The incident happened near Sehwan.

According to the police, a single-cabin Datsun pickup truck carrying people on its cargo bed collided with a passenger coach on the highway. The deceased were identified as Muskan Magsi, Yaseen Magsi, Aijaz Magsi, Ghulam Nabi Magsi, Ayaz Magsi and Riaz Magsi, all of whom were in the pickup truck.

The family was returning from the shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar to their village in Nawabshah. The passengers in the coach also sustained injuries. The critically injured persons were shifted to Liaquat University Hospital in Hyderabad and Peoples Medical University hospital in Nawabshah.



The Indus Highway's 132-kilometre stretch between Jamshoro and Sehwan records an unusually high number of accidents apparently due to a single lane and sharp curves on the road. In August, the Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered the National Highway Authority, Motorway police, police of Jamshoro and Nawabshah districts and the Regional Transport Authority to stop movement of heavy transport vehicles on this part of the highway.

However, locals often complain that lax enforcement allows heavy transport vehicles to use this road. As part of the security measures for Pakistan Peoples Party's public meeting in Hyderabad, the heavy transport vehicles' traffic from the National Highway from Nawabshah to Jamshoro through Hyderabad has been diverted to the Indus Highway, in violation of SHC's order. The diversion, through Aamri bridge to Sehwan-Jamshoro highway, started at 5pm on Wednesday and lasted till midnight.