Recklessness?: Yet another National Highway accident claims four lives

A Karachi-bound truck crashed into a pickup loaded with fruits.

SUKKUR: Four people were killed and six others were injured in a road accident that took place early Saturday morning on National Highway near the Gangi village situated near Mirpur Mathelo, Ghotki.

At around 6:30am, a Datsun pickup van carrying fruits and on its way to Punjab was hit by a speeding Karachi-bound truck. As a result of the head-on collision, four people were killed on the spot and six others were injured.

The deceased are the truck driver, Muhammad Akram, the truck cleaner, Allah Yar, the pickup driver, Ali Ahmed Pathan, and the pickup cleaner, Aamir Pathan. Six labourers sitting in the truck were injured. They were identified as Muhammad Yousuf, Muhammad Bilal, Shahbaz, Talib Hussain, Farhan and Fateh Muhammad.

The police shifted the bodies and the injured to Civil Hospital, Mirpur Mathelo. No doctor was present and the injured were attended to by the dispensers and peons. After an hour or so, a doctor named Safdar Arain arrived and attended to the injured. He referred two of the injured, Hussain and Farhan, to Rahim Yar Khan Hospital due to their critical state. The other four were sent home after first-aid was administered to them.

When contacted, the medical superintendent of Civil Hospital, Mirpur Mathelo, Dr AD Daudpoto, said that a doctor always remains present in the emergency and, therefore, reports about the absence of all doctors were baseless.

According to sources, a bridge has been under construction on National Highway for more than a year. Due to the construction, one lane of the highway remains closed for traffic, compelling commuters from both sides to use a single lane. Traffic mishaps have become a routine on this road and many lives have been lost as a consequence.

The part of National Highway called N-5, which runs from Ubauro to Hyderabad, is in a terrible state with improper diversions all over the place. While many accidents have taken place on this highway during the last couple of years, the most tragic ones happened near Pano Aqil and Thehri Bypass last year which claimed 40 and 59 lives, respectively.

During November, a high-level meeting at the Commissioner Office, Sukkur, saw National Highway Authority senior officials admitting that some contractors had used substandard material in construction due to which many portions of the highway are now in shambles. Irony is no action has been initiated against such contractors who are responsible for the lives lost and have put many others, who take the highway for travel, at stake.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2015.