Lohi Bher bus blast: Last memories and a grim Pims OPD
Nine charred bodies lined the hallway, with their relatives lined up outside.
ISLAMABAD:
The last thing Ansar Mehmood did was borrow Rs100 from his elder brother so that he could reach his office early. He purchased a bus ticket from Kallar Syedan to Islamabad and boarded the very same bus that would later claim his and the lives of 14 others.
A total of 19 passengers were en route to Rawalpindi from Gujrat on a bus when a blast occurred on board near Lohi Bher. The blast occurred due to CNG leakage, according to officials.
Ehtasham Shafiq, 18, onboard the ill-fated bus, was a student of grade 10. He was going back home after attending a summer camp.
He was sitting near the exit, as his stop was near. Fate, however, had something else in store for him — he was about to get off when the blast occurred. He is admitted to the burn centre of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in a critical state, according to his elder brother Malik Zeeshan.
The main Outpatient department (OPD) of Pims, normally overcrowded by patients and their attendants, presented a grim atmosphere. Nine charred bodies lined the hallway, with their relatives lined up outside the OPD, waiting for the administration to hand them the bodies.
A long queue of family members and relatives of people travelling in the bus were standing outside the OPD waiting for the hospital administration to update them on the fate of their loved ones.
“It is really tough for us to hear doctors announce the death of our relatives; whenever the OPD gate opens our heart starts beating fast,” said the maternal aunt of a man who died in the blast.
Most of the people in the bus belonged from Rawat, Kallar Syedan and Soan.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2011.
The last thing Ansar Mehmood did was borrow Rs100 from his elder brother so that he could reach his office early. He purchased a bus ticket from Kallar Syedan to Islamabad and boarded the very same bus that would later claim his and the lives of 14 others.
A total of 19 passengers were en route to Rawalpindi from Gujrat on a bus when a blast occurred on board near Lohi Bher. The blast occurred due to CNG leakage, according to officials.
Ehtasham Shafiq, 18, onboard the ill-fated bus, was a student of grade 10. He was going back home after attending a summer camp.
He was sitting near the exit, as his stop was near. Fate, however, had something else in store for him — he was about to get off when the blast occurred. He is admitted to the burn centre of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in a critical state, according to his elder brother Malik Zeeshan.
The main Outpatient department (OPD) of Pims, normally overcrowded by patients and their attendants, presented a grim atmosphere. Nine charred bodies lined the hallway, with their relatives lined up outside the OPD, waiting for the administration to hand them the bodies.
A long queue of family members and relatives of people travelling in the bus were standing outside the OPD waiting for the hospital administration to update them on the fate of their loved ones.
“It is really tough for us to hear doctors announce the death of our relatives; whenever the OPD gate opens our heart starts beating fast,” said the maternal aunt of a man who died in the blast.
Most of the people in the bus belonged from Rawat, Kallar Syedan and Soan.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2011.