Hit-and-run: Underage bikers killed by cab

The police have registered a case against the cab driver.

ISLAMABAD:

Minutes after leaving their homes to come to Islamabad on a motorcycle on Friday, two teenagers were hit and fatally injured by a speeding taxicab.

Bilal Ayub and Baqir Hussain, both aged 16 and residents of Shakrial, Rawalpindi, hit the road head first and suffered severe head injuries. They were taken to Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi, where they died before any emergency help could reach them, said the police.

Eyewitnesses told the Shehzad Town police that the a motorbike was hit by a cab, a Suzuki FX, that was speeding on the Shakrial service road in front of Ayesha Clinic. Bystanders rushed to the spot of accident to rescue the injured. The cab driver escaped amid the chaos at the scene but left his car behind.

Although both boys were underage and would be held liable for the accident under ordinary circumstances, the fact that the driver fled the scene is why the police filed charges against him.

The bodies of the boys are in the BBH mortuary and will be handed over to their respective families once legal requirements are completed. The cab was impounded, but no arrest had been made when this report was filed.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2012.