Careless driving: Seven die, 20 injured in two accidents

Cars in a wedding convoy collide; motorcycle rickshaw carrying schoolchildren overturns.

MULTAN:

Seven people died and 20 others were injured in two road accidents in Multan on Wednesday.

In Shorkot tehsil, seven members of a family died in a road accident on Wednesday on Jhang Road. Three of them were severely injured and taken to tehsil headquarters hospital (THQ), where they were reported to be in critical condition. The accident occurred 10 kilometres from Shorkot when some cars, on their way to a wedding in Jhang, collided with a truck and then with one another.

Rescue 1122 officials said that the cars were travelling in a column, when another driver tried to overtake them. Seeing the car overtake, they said, another driver tried to drive past it, but collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction.

They said the car then over turned and hit the column, resulting in a pile-up on the road.

Seven people, including two children, died on the spot and three were injured. Rescue 1122 was informed and the injured were pulled put from the over turned cars. Some of them were given first aid on the spot where three of them were taken to Shorkot tehsil headquarters hospital. The bodies of the deceased were handed over to their families in Khanewal.

Police said the groom, Iqbal Qureshi, remained unharmed, although, his car, too, was badly damaged.

In another incident on Wednesday, 15 schoolchildren and two rickshaw drivers were injured when the rickshaws collided.

Rescue officials said drivers of two motorcycle rickshaws, carrying school students, were racing, when one of them lost control of the vehicle and collided with the other. Due to this, one of the rickshaws over turned.

The injured were taken to Shujabad THQ hospital, where one of the drivers, Nabeel, and five children were referred to Nishtar Hospital due to critical condition.

The five children were later identified as Zainab, Zain, Saleem, Muddassir, Husnain and Shafiq, all under 12-years-old.

Doctors treating them at Nishtar Hospital said that Nabeel and Zainab had suffered head injuries and that their chances of survival were the least. The rest of the five children, they said, would likely survive.

Two of the children and the second driver were discharged from the THQ hospital a few hours later. Doctors treating the remaining children said they had fractures in legs, arms and shoulders. They said while the children were now out of danger, they will take at least two months to recover.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2012.