A rickshaw overturned allegedly due to high speed near 79 Mor, killing three children who fell off the vehicle and into a pond.
Police retrieved the bodies from the pond and handed them over to their relatives.
Farzal Ali, a resident of Chak No. 139 GB, had been to the Darbar Baba Rang Ali along with his nephews in his rickshaw to offer prayers and respects.
On his return, the rickshaw lost control at 79 Mor, and the children fell into the pond.
The three children riding in the rickshaw, seven-year-old Hamad Shaukat, six-year-olds Rahman Parvez and Hifza Shahid drowned in the pond, while the driver luckily survived with minor injuries.
The SHO of Thikriwala Police Station, Saqib Riaz, reached the spot after receiving the information about the accident.
The rescue workers made hectic efforts to find the bodies of the children. Initially they failed in their efforts, but subsequently they managed to find the bodies in three different spots that were widely apart.
Five of a family were killed and two others sustained injuries in a collision between an oil tanker and a motorcycle rickshaw on Samundari Road in Dijkot in the month of May this year.
According to police, a “speeding” oil tanker had hit a motorcycle rickshaw near Samundari Road. The deceased were identified as Ali, Matin, Ruqqiya Bibi, Iman Fatima and Noor Fatima.
The victims, who had been residents of 265 Rab Badi Nagan, died on the spot while the injured, Mohammad Rashid and his son Muqaddas, were rushed to the hospital by the rescue team.
A large number of people had gathered on the spot where the bodies of the victims were lying.
The police started searching for the driver of the oil tanker who had escaped after the accident.
Also in May this year, eight of a family had been killed when their car collided head-on with a coaster on the Vehari-Multan Road.
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. The cause of the accident was said to be over-speeding and the bad condition of the Vehari-Multan Road. The ill-fated family had been going to Vehari to attend the Chehlum of Abdul Hameed’s son-in-law.
The accident was so severe that the car was destroyed. Upon receiving the information about the accident, the DC of Vehari, Khizar Afzal Chaudhry, Rescue 1122 staff and Tibba Sultanpur Police Station personnel reached the spot.
The then Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz had expressed a deep sense of sorrow over the loss of precious human lives and extended sympathies to the bereaved heirs.
He had directed the administration to provide the best medical facilities to the injured, adding that legal action would 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 opposite direction 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.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 9th, 2022.
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