Tragic: Seven perish in AJK road accident

Police, passengers blame drowsy van driver for the fall

MUZAFFARABAD: At least seven people were killed and 14 others injured in a road accident in Pallandri district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Friday.

According to the police, a van (RLD-586) was coming from Rawalpindi to Hussain Kot area of Pallandri, some 180 kilometres away from Muzaffarabad, the capital city of AJK. The van fell into a deep ravine near Azad Pattan area of Pallandri killing seven passengers on the spot while 14 others received injuries.

Police and rescue workers rushed to the spot and started the rescue operation under the supervision of Pallandri Superintendent Police Jameel Mir.

The rescue workers pulled the bodies and injured passengers out from the wreckage and shifted them to Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayad Al-Nahyan Hospital Rawalakot where two passengers are stated to be in critical condition.

Mir said the van’s driver was drowsy and termed that the major cause of the accident in which seven people died. The SP further said that they have recorded the statements of the injured passengers who had also said that the driver, who seemed tired, lost control of the vehicle after which it crashed into a gorge. The driver fled from the accident site and was still at large till the filing of the story.

Those who died in the accident were identified as Khawar Illahi, Muhammad Irshad, Zubir Khan, Akram Jan, Muhammad Sarwar, Umar Maqbool, and Khalid Hussain.

AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed condoled with the bereaved families and instructed health department officials to provide free and proper treatment to the injured passengers at Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayad Al-Nahyan Hospital Rawalakot.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2015.