M9 Motorway accident toll rises to 15

Child's body discovered alongside woman at morgue

KARACHI:

The death toll from the blaze erupting in a passenger van rose to 15 on Sunday, after another body was discovered at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) morgue, and an injured man passed away during treatment.

The van, heading to Karachi from Hyderabad, was near ASF City on the M9 Motorway, formerly Super Highway, when it caught fire following a collision with another vehicle on Saturday evening. The deceased were shifted to ASH while the injured were initially shifted to Liaquat University Hospital in Hyderabad and to Nooriabad Trauma Centre. Later, six of the injured were shifted to Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital in Karachi.

Thirteen fatalities were initially reported on Saturday night. The deceased were shifted to ASH, where the staff discovered the body of a child alongside a deceased woman. Rescue workers expressed the belief that the woman may have wrapped the child close to her in an attempt to protect it, but both died in the accident.

The identities of the deceased could not yet be ascertained due to severe burn marks. DNA reports are awaited for identification.

Meanwhile, one of the injured passengers, Rasheed, succumbed to his injuries on Sunday. Nearly 70 per cent of his body had been burnt in the accident and he died during the course of treatment at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital, according to the burns ward in-charge Dr Ahmerul Abran.

At least five persons are under treatment at the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital's Burns Ward.

They were identified as Irfan Sheikh, 40, Irfanur Rehman, 36, Muhammad Ahmed, 26, Hoorain, 11, and three-year-old Faiza. The toddler was stated to be in stable condition but the others are currently in the intensive care unit (ICU). Some of the injured are also under treatment at Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad.

Injured Irfan Sheikh, who works at Civil Hospital Hyderabad and was travelling with his wife and two daughters, told the media that the van was going at the speed of 120km an hour when he heard a sudden loud noise.

At first he thought a tyre had burst but then the vehicle overturned and fell off the motorway before it caught fire, he recalled. With his lower body in flames, he managed to rescue one of his daughters but he does not know where his wife and other daughter are.

According to Dr Abran, 53 per cent of Irfan's body sustained burns in the accident.