Madness on roads: Six killed in separate accidents in Murree

Van overturns, another rams into truck amid light rain

ISLAMABAD: At least six people were killed and 11 others sustained injures in two separate road accidents near Murree late Saturday evening.

According to Rescue 1122, the first road accident occurred near Samli area on the Murree Expressway when a passenger van overturned due to over-speeding.  The officials explained that the road was slippery due to the intermittent rains in the region and thus the driver lost control of the vehicle and it overturned.

Another accident occurred when a passenger van going from Muzaffarabad to Rawalpindi collided with a truck in Barian area. Rescue 1122 officials said most of the injured were shifted to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Murree.

“We were unable to reach the site where the accident took place therefore it is difficult to confirm the number of deaths or injuries at the time,” a Rescue 1122 official told The Express Tribune.

Polyclinic hospital spokesman Dr Tanveer Malik said the hospital received four bodies including a newborn baby. The bodies were placed in to the mortuary of the hospital.

Malik said the deceased had been severely crushed and two of them died due to severe head injuries. Two of the injured were later referred to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and two others with minor injuries were given medical treatment at Polyclinic, shared Malik.

He further said the hospital also received seven other people who sustained injuries in another road accident near Rawal Lake View Point.

When contacted, Pims spokesperson Dr Ayesha Ishani said the hospital had received two bodies and seven injured persons. She said one of the deceased, a man, was identified as Absar.

Meanwhile, one injured is said to be in a critical state after sustaining minor fractures and cuts.

Those injured were identified as Ziaur Rehman,25, Abid, 34, Zarina, 60, Nazma, 40, Amir, 26, Haq Nawazm, and Manzoor.

The Islamabad Traffic Police were seen stopping motorcycles en route to Murree so as to avoid a traffic mess but the measure seemed futile as exodus of tourists to the hill station created severe traffic congestion on the expressway.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2015.