Five perish in tragic van-trailer crash
PHOTO: FILE
At least five people, including a woman, were killed while another six sustained injuries as a passenger van rammed into a trailer parked near the Old Toll Plaza in the T-Chowk area of Rawat – a Union Council in the Islamabad Capital Territory – on Tuesday.
Sources said most of the victims belonged to a family which had just arrived at the Islamabad International Airport from Saudia Arabia after performing Umrah and were travelling to their ancestral town along with their relatives in Gujranwala through the Islamabad Expressway.
According to the preliminary investigation, the tragic incident allegedly occurred at daybreak due to the driver of the ill-fated van dozing off before the vehicle smashed into the 22-wheeler parked on the road near the Old Toll Plaza on Islamabad Expressway.
A spokesperson for Rescue 1122 said six individuals, including four women, sustained injuries in the horrific crash, which left five people, including a female passenger of the car, dead at the spot. The spokesperson added that the bodies of the victims were taken out by cutting different parts of the vehicle.
The deceased were identified as Mehreen, 45, Danish, 28, Mian Idris, 52, Haji Shafiq, 62, and Haji Nazir, 65. The woman who died in the accident and three others belong to the same family.
Further, Rehana Nadeem, 40, Ashoor Idris, 40, Arham Idris, 18, Huma Imran, 35, Arsam Idris, 18, and Kaneez Shabir, 75, were among those who sustained injuries.
According to sources, the rescue personnel arrived at the crash site upon receiving the information and shifted the victims and injured to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.
They said the locals assisted in maintaining the traffic flow on the Islamabad Express Highway which was hampered due to the rescue operation.
On the other hand, the first information report of the incident was registered at the Human police station. Police sources said initial findings have suggested that the collision occurred due to the driver nodding off during the travel.
Later, the police confiscated the 22-wheeler and the passenger van involved in the collision and transported them to the Humak police station.
After completing the post-mortem examination of the deceased, the bodies crash were handed over to their loved ones while the injured were receiving medical treatment at the Hospital, the police said and added that further investigations were under way.
Earlier this year, 13 people, including women and children, lost their lives when a passenger bus lost control and overturned on the Lahore-Islamabad motorway some 130km from the federal capital.
According to the Motorway Police, the Lahore-bound passenger bus—belonging to the Shalimar Company—was passing through the famous Kallar Kahar salt range when its brakes failed. The accident took place near Booth No 224 on the Lahore-Islamabad motorway.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2023.