At least five people of the same family, including four women, were killed and 12 others injured when two rickshaws taking them back home from a Mehndi ceremony collided with a truck.
Witnesses said the rickshaws were speeding when they collided with the truck coming from the opposite direction.
Most of the injured were women and children, while only three of them were men.
The deceased were identified as 65-year-old Kulsoom, 27-year-old Taslim Khatun, 25-year-old Iqra Batool, 12-yearold Laraib and 10-year-old Ahsan. District Rescue Officer Hafiz Abdul Rashid told The Express Tribune that Punjab Emergency Services teams reached the spot upon receiving report of the accident on the Badli Wala-Skesar road.
He said the injured and bodies had been shifted to the Joharabad District Headquarters Hospital. A police team led by the SHO of Khushab police station impounded both the rickshaws and the truck and started legal proceedings.
Eyewitnesses said the rickshaws collided with the truck due to racing. Joharabad DHQ Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Asif Qazi said the injured persons brought to the health facility included 12-yearold Umaima, six-year-old Mafiha, 10-year-old Saghir, 36-year-old Parveen, 32-yearold Humaira, 45-year-old Ayub, eight-year-old Usman, 11-year-old Rabia, 42-year-old Jahangir, 10-year-old Ahsan and 35-year-old Razia.
The doctor said the condition of two patients, Jahangir and Ahsan, was critical, so they had been referred to another hospital. One patient, Umaima, aged 12, had been sent home after treatment. He said nine persons injured in the accident were under treatment in the hospital, while the bodies had been handed over to relatives.
According to family sources, 10-year-old Ahsan, who was referred to the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad in critical condition, succumbed to his injuries, raising the death toll to five. The whole area appeared in mourning on the death of five members of the same family and injuries to several others in the accident.
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