Eight of family perish in accident

Victims include Abdul Hameed, his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren

VEHARI:

Eight members of a family were killed when their car collided head-on with a coaster.

The deceased were identified as Abdul Hameed, 60, his son, Sajjad Hussain, 33, daughter-in-law, Sanam Naz, 27, and granddaughters Sahil Umer, 15, Mashal, 7, and Mishal. They died on the spot while two other grandchildren of Abdul Hameed, five-year-old Arsalan and 16-year-old Lubna, who had sustained serious injuries, died in the hospital.

Five passengers of the coaster also sustained serious injuries. Rescue teams shifted the dead and the injured to the RHC Tibba Sultanpur.

The cause of the accident was said to be over-speeding and the bad condition of the Vehari-Multan Road.

The ill-fated family was going to Vehari to attend the Chehlum of Abdul Hameed’s son-in-law.

The accident was so severe that the car was completely destroyed.

Upon receiving the information about the accident, the DC of Vehari, Khidr Afzal Chaudhry, Rescue 1122 staff and Tibba Sultanpur Police Station personnel reached the spot.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz expressed a deep sense of sorrow over the loss of precious human lives and extended sympathies to the bereaved heirs.

He directed the administration to provide the best medical facilities to the injured, adding that legal action be taken against the driver responsible for the accident.

Moreover, people from different walks of life also expressed their grief over the tragic accident and said that the dilapidated condition of the Multan-Vehari Road was responsible for the loss of lives.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Sajid Masood, chairman of the Citizens Central Traders Association, and Babar Manzoor Dogal, president of the District Bar Association of Vehari, said that the Vehari-Multan Road was the main highway of Pakistan, but it had long been lying in a state of disrepair.

A similar tragedy had taken place in February this year when three members of a family had been killed and eight others injured when a tractor-trolley collided with a rickshaw near Mohsinwali village on Talamba Link Road in Mian Chunnu.

A two-month-old baby, his mother, step-mother and two other women were killed in the accident.

The family of Kashif, a resident of village 3/8R, who lost three relatives in the accident, was returning home in the rickshaw after working in the potato fields along with other labourers.

As they approached the village, the tractor-trolley coming from the front hit the rickshaw.

Kashif's two wives, Shamim Bibi and Maryam Bibi, two-month-old son Wasim, Shehzad Bibi and Zahid Bibi were killed on the spot.

Kashif, Anam Bibi, Shahnaz Bibi, Nazia Bibi and Faiza Bibi were severely injured along with three other people. Rescue 1122 personnel took them to the tehsil headquarters hospital.

The Khanewal control room staff of the rescue service confirmed that five people had died and eight shifted to the hospital after the accident.

The rescue operation in charge, Shahid, said his team received a call about the accident at 5:25 pm and responded within four minutes. He said the injured were shifted to the hospital immediately. Assistant Commissioner Rameez Zafar visited the injured in the hospital and issued instructions to the staff to ensure their proper treatment.

Mian Chunnu DSP Mehr Nasir Sial supervised the police response to the accident. The THQ hospital's Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Hafiz Qamar said all required treatment facilities and medicines had been provided to the injured.

A social welfare organisation provided food to the injured in the hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2022.