Schoolgirl killed in road crash involving e-bus

Incident triggers protests in which two buses were damaged and one was set on fire

RAWALPINDI:

A nine-year-old schoolgirl was killed after a Green Electric Bus hit a motorcycle carrying her and her father in the Munawar Colony area of Adiala Road on Tuesday.

The girl, who was wearing her school uniform, fell from the motorcycle and was crushed under the bus.

The tragic death triggered anger among citizens, who pelted electric buses with stones, smashed their windows and held the driver hostage after injuring him.

The protesters also attempted to set one of the buses on fire from the rear.

SHO Saddar Beruni Ijaz Azim and DFC Mubeen responded to the situation and extinguished the fire before it could spread.

Chief Traffic Officer Farhan Aslam and SP Saddar Anam Sher, along with a heavy police contingent, also reached the scene and shifted the injured driver and the deceased girl to hospital.

Police arrested several people allegedly involved in the stone-pelting.

According to police, resident of Kahkashan Colony Hamid Maqbool was returning from school with his daughters, nine-year-old Ayesha and her sister, when the accident occurred in front of Munawar Colony on Adiala Road.

The Green Electric Bus hit the motorcycle, causing the nine-year-old girl to fall beneath the bus, where she was crushed and died on the spot.

Seeing the tragic incident and the girl lying on the road in her school uniform, citizens became enraged and began heavily pelting the bus from all sides.

The bus windows were smashed and the vehicle was severely damaged. Another bus parked some distance away was also damaged.

The bus driver, Syed Shajar Abbas, was also injured by the stone-pelting and held hostage.

After reports of a law-and-order situation and traffic jams on Adiala Road and adjoining roads, CTO Farhan Aslam and SP Saddar Anam Sher reached the scene along with SHO Saddar Beruni Ijaz Azim and a heavy police contingent.

Meanwhile, protesters attempted to burn one of the buses by setting fire to its rear portion. SHO Ijaz Azim and DFC Mubeen responded in time, extinguishing the fire and preventing it from spreading.

The injured driver and the deceased girl were shifted to hospital through Rescue 1122. Both buses involved in the incident were also removed from the scene.