At least 16 people lost their lives when two public transport vehicles carrying pilgrims to Sehwan from Burewala, Punjab, met with deadly accidents in Khairpur and Shaheed Benazirabad districts on Saturday.
In the first accident, a bus overturned while attempting to avoid a rickshaw on the National Highway in the Ranipur area of Khairpur district, killing 10 people and injuring around 40 others.
Khairpur's SSP Tauheed Rehman Memon said that the bus was transporting devotees of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (RA) to Sehwan, where the annual three-day urs is set to commence on February 17.
He attributed the accident to overspeeding, saying that the driver lost control while trying to swerve past a rickshaw.
The deceased and injured were taken to government hospitals in Gambat and Ranipur. Some of the injured sustained severe fractures.
Local residents, Rescue 1122 teams, police, National Highway and Motorway Police personnel, Rangers, and Edhi volunteers assisted in retrieving bodies and shifting the injured to hospitals.
The deceased have been identified as Muhammad Shahid, Faisal Hayat, Babar Ali, Hameed Ali, Asghar Kaka, Muhammad Shahzad, Nazeer, Atta Muhammad, Rani and Muhammad Yaseen.
Deputy Commissioner Syed Fawad Hussain Shah confirmed that arrangements were being made to transport the deceased back to their hometowns in Punjab.
He also assured that the injured were receiving proper medical care in government hospitals, while local residents came forward to donate blood for the victims.
In another tragic incident, a van carrying residents of Burewala from Shaheed Benazirabad to Sehwan crashed into a truck-trailer after colliding with a donkey cart on Aamri Road near Qazi Ahmed taluka, killing six people and injuring eight others.
The pilgrims had initially arrived in Shaheed Benazirabad by train before continuing their journey to Sehwan in the ill-fated van.
The dead and injured were taken to Taluka Hospital in Qazi Ahmed, with the more critically wounded later transferred to Peoples Medical College Hospital in Nawabshah.
The deceased in this accident were identified as Muhammad Zafar Shaikh, Babar Ali Shah, Muhammad Azeem, Deedar Jatoi, Mairaj Ahmed and Lateef Ali. One of the injured passengers, Muhammad Waqas, recounted that they were heading to Sehwan to attend the Urs festivities when the tragic accident occurred.
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