Nawabshah tragedy: 19 children die in road crash

Driver, two teachers also killed when a van carrying schoolchildren was hit by dumper truck.

HYDERABAD:

The trauma centre of the Peoples Medical College (PMC) hospital echoed with cries of pain and sorrow on Wednesday. Never before had the doctors and nurses at the hospital seen 19 dead children. In all, 22 people died when a van carrying schoolchildren was hit by a dumper truck and then immediately by a cruising passenger van at a perilous curve on a bridge on Rohri Canal on Nawabshah-Qazi Ahmed Road.

Two school teachers – Zakia and Qari Nazeer – and the van driver, Sachal Korai, are among the dead. The truck’s driver escaped after the deadly crash.

The schoolchildren were returning to Daulatpur tehsil of Nawabshah district after attending a quiz and naat competition. The students belonged to Bright Future School.

The deceased children, 10 girls and 9 boys, were all aged between 10 and 16, according to PMC hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Hashim Langha.



The trauma centre was full of children wailing in pain. At least 15 to 20 injured were brought to the hospital. Some of them had fractured bones, while others were left with broken teeth or cleaved lips.

One of the survivors, eighth grader Ayesha Aslam, recalled how excited her schoolmates were as they travelled back to their hometown. “We were discussing how well we had done in the competition. But then suddenly the van crashed. Lying in a pool of blood, I thought I was going to die, but here I am watching the bodies of my friends.”

Babur Arain, who was mourning the death of his 12-year-old son Humayun, blamed himself for allowing his son to travel in a public transport van. “He was my only child. Now there is nothing left in my life.”

Scores of people, including politicians and social workers, reached the hospital and many volunteered to donate blood.



At least 10 of the dead children reportedly belonged to the Khanzada community of Daulatpur. “We have suffered an irreparable loss. But we want justice. We will block highways across the province if the police do not arrest the errant truck driver within a day or two,” warned Rashid Khanzada, who represented the community.

The dumper truck was employed by contractors in Nawabshah.

SSP Javed Jiskani told The Express Tribune that the police have detained the contractor and staff. “We have asked them to produce the driver or lead us to his whereabouts.”

According to Nawabshah’s Deputy Commissioner Abdul Aleem Lashari, recklessness of both the van and truck drivers caused the accident. “We have put signs to guide the drivers to slow down as they approach the curve over the bridge. But sadly many of them ignore the warning.”

The school’s owner, Dr Jamshed Khanzada, said his school often sends students for extra-curricular and educational activities outside the town. “We give very clear and strict instructions to the drivers to drive slowly and to follow the traffic rules.”

The three main highways – National Highway, Indus Highway and Super Highway – as well as the roads connecting various districts of Sindh are in a dilapidated condition.

According to the statistics collected from the Liaquat University Hospital’s branches in Hyderabad and Jamshoro, as many as 1,450 people were killed in road accidents in 2013. The toll, however, only includes the bodies brought to hospitals in the 10 districts of Hyderabad division. The count also does not include the bodies taken to taluka or district headquarters hospitals.

Eight children injured in Multan

At least eight children were critically injured when a truck and a Qingqi motorcycle rickshaw collided in Multan on Wednesday.



The children and the driver, Amaanullah, were taken to Nishtar Hospital, where medics said that three of the children had many fractured bones. The remaining five injured are in a critical condition. The truck driver escaped whereas the truck has been impounded by the police.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2014.