Motorway crash: efforts made to trace families
The local authorities on Saturday strived to trace and contact the families of the victims of an overnight accident as the death toll rose to 13, including several people who were overrun while trying to rescue the passengers of a van whose tyre had burst.
The road crash took place near the Zahir Pir motorway interchange. Thirteen of the 19 people injured in the accident were under treatment in the Sheikh Zayed Hospital.
According to motorway officials, those killed in the accident at Thul Hasan included three local people who had rushed to the spot to help those injured in the van accident.
The van of a private company had overturned after its tyre burst. While local residents and passengers of a bus coming from the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar gathered at the spot, another speeding vehicle ploughed into them.
The vehicle carrying the family of a customs official also overturned and fell into a ditch. The victims included members of the family, passengers of the van and those who had gathered for rescue work.
Motorway and local police reached the spot along with Rescue 1122 workers.
The bodies and injured were shifted to the Sheikh Zayed Hospital and Zahir Pir Hospital. Deputy Commissioner Shakeel Ahmed Bhatti and District Police Officer Rizwan Umar Gondal visited the Sheikh Zayed Hospital and enquired after the injured.
Sheikh Zayed Medical College Principal Dr Salim Laghari said five bodies and 19 injured people had been brought to the hospital.
“We are trying to contact the relatives of the people who lost their lives in the accident,” an official said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 26th, 2023.