11 labourers killed in accident on National Highway

The victims were on their way to work in a Qingqi rickshaw when a coach struck the overloaded rickshaw

HYDERABAD: Over a dozen labourers, heading to a banana farm from their homes, for work, in a Qingqi rickshaw, met a tragic accident on the National Highway, which claimed 11 lives and left six persons injured. The incident occurred on Thursday morning in Matiari district.

A coach carrying passengers from Lyyah, Punjab, to Karachi, struck the overloaded rickshaw, which was moving on the highway in violation of the National Highway and Motorway Police's regulations, in Saeedabad taluka.

Nine passengers travelling in the rickshaw died on the spot and two others succumbed to their injuries at taluka hospital in Saeedabad.

Locals, who witnessed the accident, as well as the passengers travelling in the coach, told the local media that the coach was racing against another coach before it hit the rickshaw.

The vehicle, which has been impounded by the police, bore the registration number BSG-855. The driver, who was also injured in the accident, escaped from the hospital.

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The deceased, Shamshad Khoso, Irshad Khoso, Ali Sher Khoso, Imran Khoso, Majnu Khoso, Valji Kolhi, Heman Kolhi, Kano Kolhi and Tamachi Kolhi, died before they could be shifted to the hospital.

Tamachi Kolhi and Jemu Kolhi died at the hospital later. Irshad and Ali Sher, both teenagers, were brothers.

All the victims belonged to Pir Bux Khoso village, which received 11 bodies in the afternoon amid mourning by the bereaved families. All the slain persons were aged between 16 years and 27 years.

Following the accident, the down track of the highway remained closed for the traffic for several hours.

The FIR of the incident was not registered till the time of the filing of this report.

"We have recorded statements of the passengers [in the coach] and the people who witnessed the accident. The FIR will be registered as soon as the families complete the burial rites," Matiari SSP Asif Ahmed Bughio told the local media.

The accident not only reflects lax regulation by the National Highway and Motorway Police (NHMP), which allowed an overloaded rickshaw to use the highway, but also the poor road condition of the two-lane highway whose expansion has been pending for more than a decade.

"Had the motorway policing been effective, rickshaws, 70CC motorcycles or passenger coaches and other vehicles indulging in racing and speeding wouldn't be seen moving on the highway," an official of NHMP, who has served on motorway police's beat where the accident occurred, said while speaking on condition of anonymity.