Bus plunge: Child killed, 30 injured in Murree accident

Five still critical; driver lost control while negotiating a turn.

RAWALPINDI/ ISLAMABAD:

A passenger bus overturned on the way down from Murree, killing one child and injuring 30.

The accident took place at 6:30 pm on Saturday near Tarait, some 30 km from Murree.

According to initial reports, the driver of the bus was negotiating a sharp turn near Aaro Kas when he lost control over the bus due to break failure, after which it fell into a ravine.

“It suddenly overturned while taking a turn. What happened afterwards we don’t know,” said Uzma, an injured woman who was on board.

At the time this report was filed, as many as 25 injured were transferred to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad where a five- year old boy, Ahsan, was pronounced dead.

The injured included 14 women and four children.

Ahsan received a head injury which proved fatal. Four other injured children were shifted to the children ward and are in stable condition, said PIMS spokesperson Dr Ayesha Isani.

The bus (LRO 5690) was hired by a Lahore-based family who went to Muree on Saturday to visit the Mohra Sharif shrine.  Most of the passengers belonged to the same extended family.

Despite rain and harsh weather, Rescue 1122 ambulances with the help of local residents retrieved the injured from the ravine and shifted them to hospitals. Initially, some of the injured were shifted to a private hospital in Bhara Kahu and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. Later, the injured in Bhara Kahu were also shifted to PIMS.

Dr Abdul Rehman of Rescue 1122 told The Express Tribune that the bus was carrying 30 passengers. “We have moved all 30 injured to hospitals.”

City Traffic Officer Ishtiak Ahmed said most of the passengers were from Lahore, and confirmed that they were primarily there to visit the shrine.

Passengers with minor injuries have been shifted to the PIMS surgical ward after necessary treatment.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2013.