Six dead as rain lashes city

Prolonged downpour causes roof collapse, road incidents

LAHORE:

At least six people died and eight others were injured in two incidents of roof collapse and two road traffic crashes amid heavy rain that lashed the city for over seven hours on Thursday.

According to officials, two men sitting on a charpoy at a rickshaw workshop at Daroghawala Chowk to shelter themselves from rain died and two others were injured when the mud roof collapsed.

One of the victims had stopped at the place minutes before the incident. People present nearby rushed to help them and called rescue teams. They removed the debris and evacuated the victims.

One of the men had died on the spot, while another was shifted to hospital but he succumbed to injuries. The deceased were identified as Azeem Hafeez, 44, from Mughalpura and Fiaz Sattar, 45, from Fategarh.

Police handed over the bodies to the families after completing legal formalities. In the other incident, the roof of a house in a dilapidated condition collapsed in Salamatpura, leaving one person dead and another injured.

Rescue 1122 received a call at its control room about the roof collapse in Mohallah Eid Gah.

Rescue teams rushed to the spot, removed the debris and evacuated a two years old boy with fractured leg and the body of 24-year-old Farhan Yaqoob.

Local people claimed that the mother of the child was missing. Rescue teams kept searching in the debris but could not trace the woman and announced conclusion of the operation.

At least 20 rescuers took part in the operation. The injured child, Ahmad Ali, son of Azeem, was taken to the Services Hospital.

Slippery roads also caused several accidents during the rain.

In an incident at Kahna Nau, Munir Ahmad, 45, was hit by a car while trying to cross a road. He was severely injured.

The driver lost control over the car, which rammed into a passenger van. Furqan Bashir, 45, of Lalliyani, who was sitting on rooftop of the van, fell down due to the traffic crash and died.

The car driver, Ahmad Hassan, and a woman traveling with him also suffered injuries.

In the other accident near Chung, a vehicle overturned after the driver lost control over it. As a result, Asiya Bibi died and three people were injured.

The rain hampered traffic flow in the city as many intersections and low-lying areas were inundated.

Chief Traffic Police Officer (CTO) Muntazir Mehdi said that additional wardens were deployed and the the circle and divisional officers also remained on roads to cope with the situation. Mehdi also visited several areas of the city.

He said lifters and breakdown vehicles remained deployed near low-lying areas and circle officers remained in contact with the administration of the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA).

He requested the citizens to stay away from electric poles and drive carefully.

Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of lives in accidents due to rains in Lahore, Gujrat and other cities and extended heartfelt sympathies to the affected families.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2022.