Travel hazard: Rickshaw driver, family killed in accident

2 girls were hit by trucks while crossing the road in Faisalabad

DERA GHAZI KHAN/ FAISALABAD:

Six people were killed and two others were injured in a road accident in Dera Ghazi Khan on Sunday.

A Rescue 1122 spokesman said a van had hit a motorcycle rickshaw on Jampur Road.

They said rickshaw driver Munawar Aziz, his wife Zarina, his daughters Farwa and Sana, son Mehtab and a relatives, Shakila Shaukat, had died on the spot. Two passengers on the bus, Muhammad Shakeel and his wife Farzana, were injured.

A Rescue 1122 team took them to the DHQ hospital. The van driver was arrested by police.

Following the accident, some residents of the area protested and set the van on fire. They also blocked the Indus Highway and chanted slogans against the highway police. They said police staff were absent from duty.

Muhammad Bux, one of the protesters, said the number of accidents at Pull Daat, Jampur Road and Multan Road Bypass had increased.

“In less than three weeks, 12 people have died on this road,” he said.

He said some 20 others had been injured. “No highway official visited the scene of the accident today,” he said.

A team from Gadai police station met the protesters and assured them that their concern would be taken up with relevant authorities.

DCO Nadeemur Rehman Baig and the District Emergency Officer Dr Natiq Hayat Ghalzai visited the injured at the hospital. The DCO condoled with the family on behalf of the chief minister.

Police registered a case on Shakeel’s complaint.

In Faisalabad, three people were killed and two others were injured in various road accidents.

A police spokesman said a six-year-old girl was killed after she was run over by a truck in Chak 74-RB while she was crossing the road near Pinga Mills.

He said a crane had hit a motorbike at Jail Road near Amban Wali Puli. He said the motorbike rider, Muhammad Riaz, died at a hospital.

He said a four-year-old girl, a resident of Chak 297-GB, was killed while she was was crossing the road.

He said Nazir Ahmad and Shah Nawaz were injured when their motorbikes collided near Abdullah Pur Chowk.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2015.