Five die as bus plows into workers

Victims were relatives going to work before sunrise

LAHORE:

A bus, allegedly being driven at a very high speed, ran over a convoy of kiln workers going to work on their donkey carts, killing five workers, all from the same family.

Three others sustained serious injuries.

The victims, who were residents of Kahiri Sananwan, used to go to Rafiq Sananwan's kiln early in the morning on three donkey carts.

Due to alleged recklessness and excessive speed, the driver of the bus, who could not be identified, drove the vehicle over the convoy of the kiln workers near Chhapri Adda, killing Muhammad Shahbaz, Muhammad Ashfaq, Muhammad Sajawal and Muhammad Sajid instantly while Muhammad Yasir died from his injuries in the hospital.

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The injured, Muhammad Aziz, Muhammad Zeeshan and Muhammad Amir, are undergoing treatment in a hospital. The nature of their injuries was said to be serious.

The driver fled after the accident. Police registered a case against him though his identity was yet to be ascertained.

In January this year, a man, his son, a daughter and a cousin had died in a traffic accident.

The accident between a car and a coach had happened on Chandni Chowk near Bhakkar.

Four people had died on the spot while five coach passengers sustained minor injuries.

The deceased had been identified as Abdullah, his son Yunan, daughter Sakina Bibi and a cousin Umar Daraz.

The coach completely squashed the car and its passengers. Rescue workers had to use machinery to pull the mutilated bodies from the wreckage of the car.

According to rescue sources, the coach had been on its way to Multan from Mianwali while the car was heading to Mianwali from Chowk Azam. It took some time for the coach driver to bring his vehicle to a halt while the car rolled along it.

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It was a horrifying scene for the onlookers.

The local people had immediately reported the incident to the traffic police officials and Rescue 1122, upon which the teams of Rescue 1122 and traffic police immediately reached the accident site and started rescue activities.

The driver of the coach escaped.

The DSP of Traffic of Bhakkar, Syed Mohammad Saqlain Jafar, had told The Express Tribune that legal action had been initiated against those responsible for the accident, while the bodies of those who died in the accident were shifted to the hospital for a postmortem examination.

The DSP had said that the relatives of the ill-fated family had been informed about the tragedy.

Meanwhile, in a separate accident in Bhakkar, a truck knocked off a motorcyclist, killing its rider on the spot.

In the month of May last year, five of a family were killed and two others sustained injuries in a collision between an oil tanker and a motorcycle rickshaw in Dijkot. According to police, a “speeding” oil tanker had hit a motorcycle rickshaw near Samundari Road.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2023.