15 drown in rivers, water reservoirs due to lack of safety measures

Over 46 people killed in road accidents across the province

PESHAWAR:

Despite clear-cut instructions from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to deploy police and Rescue 1122 teams along with divers at lakes, rivers and dams to avoid loss of life during Eid, 15 people drowned across the province in rivers and dams.

Over 46 people were killed in road accidents across the province as a total of 456 road accidents were recorded in the first three days of Eid. There were 160 incidents of fire in the province too.

Talking to The Express Tribune an official of Rescue 1122 said that they handled 2,421 emergencies during Eid including 456 road accidents, 1,645 medical emergencies, 42 crimes, five building collapse incidents and 15 drowning cases too.

“Road accidents claimed 46 lives. A large number of road accidents happened due to one wheeling on roads and in Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) alone 100 injured were brought,” said Dr Khateer.

Around half and dozen people were killed as a result of aerial firing in Peshawar and other district too despite a ban announced on aerial firing by the district administration on the special instructions of CM.

It may be recalled that CM Mahmood Khan had ordered foolproof security, availability of petrol, diesel, food items and fully-equipped rescue staff as well as effective coordination between all the departments and district administration in the tourism resorts during Eid.

Each year hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to the hill stations in the province during Eid holidays resulting in overcrowding, traffic jams and shortage of food items as well as petrol. This forces police to ban entry of tourists.

The CM had also ordered that teams of divers should be put on alert at dams, rivers and water reservoirs to avoid incidents of drowning which regularly occur in the province. The order was given after last year seven people drowned in Raghagan Dam in Bajaur when a boat capsized due to overloading.