Kathore Link Road accident: Twenty more bodies identified

Of the 62 people who died in the collision on January 11, six bodies remain unidentified.

KARACHI: The process of identifying the people who died in the Kathore Link Road accident on January 11 is nearly complete, with only six unidentified bodies left at the Edhi morgue.

Out of the 26 bodies still at the morgue, 18 were handed over to the families of the deceased on Thursday morning. “Two more bodies have also been identified but their families have not yet received them,” said the morgue in-charge.

A Shikarpur-bound bus had caught fire after colliding with an oil tanker, claiming the lives of 62 passengers. Only one body could be identified on the day.

Abdul Hafeez Lund received the bodies of three family members on Thursday. He buried them in Data Nagar, Steel Town, near the graves of five others who died in the same accident. He earlier received two bodies on January 20 and three other on January 28.

“They were all going to Ghotki to attend a wedding,” he said. “We lost eight family members that day but the government has not offered us any help; the provincial authorities, including the police, did not even help us take the bodies home.” He also complained that there was no mechanism in place to help the families to take the bodies without hassle.

According to Lund, his relatives Gul Hasan and Maulvi Abdul Wahid lost their entire families in the accident, except for two daughters who were not on the bus. Those who died included Haji Adam, 65, Mai Umran, 25, Khurshida, 4, Suriya, 3, Khalida, 2, Ahmed Ali, 16, Imtiaz Ali, 10, and Mai Khadija, 38.

He said that both the men were factory workers who had lost their jobs after the incident. “They are in shock,” he explained. “They were awaiting the identification of their loved ones and the process is finally over now.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2015.