Poor visibility: 11 killed, 40 injured in road accidents due to fog

25 of the injured are reported to be in critical condition.

BAHAWALPUR/ MULTAN:

At least 11 people were killed and injured in road accidents across south Punjab due to dense fog on Monday.

Five students of Islamia University Bahawalpur were killed when the car they were travelling in collided with a tractor-trolley on the National Highway near Mian Channu.

They were on their way to Lahore from Bahawalpur. They were identified as Maratab Ali of the Agriculture Department, Umair Akram and Sidra Javed of the Statistics Department, Rida Javed of Media Studies Department and Muhammad Ahmad of the Veterinary Medicine Department.

The accident occurred at 9am. Witnesses said there was heavy fog at the time. They said the car driver probably did not see the tractor-trolley driving in the opposite direction. Residents of the area rushed to help, but all five students died on the spot. They were all members of the Youth Parliament.



Elsewhere, two people were killed and 40 injured when two buses collided with each other near Darogha Adda on the National Highway. One of the buses was on its way to Dera Ismail Khan from Multan, while the other was heading to Peshawar.

One of the deceased was identified as driver Muhammad Tayyab. The injured were taken to several hospitals, where the condition of 25 was reported to be critical. Of these, 20 were referred to district headquarters hospital (DHQ) in Layyah and the rest sent to DHQ hospital in Muzaffargarh and Nishtar Hospital in Multan.

In Layyah, two motorcyclists were killed after they were run over by a van on National Highway.

Witnesses said visibility had been poor.  The van driver fled the scene.



In Vehari, a man and a child, riding a motorcycle, died after being hit by a bus.

Two men were reported to have died in Multan after the donkey cart they were riding fell into a ditch. Rescue officials said they had died due to head injuries. According to the Meteorological Department, dense fog is expected to cover south Punjab for the next one week.

Motorway SSP Ghulam Jafar told The Express Tribune that the Highways and Motorway Police were on high alert. He said leaves of traffic police personnel had been cancelled to keep more officers on the roads. Drivers are being stopped and told to use fog lights and go slow. They are also being guided about safer routes.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2012.