- विज्ञापन -
Islamabad: A tragic series of accidents occurred over the weekend, claiming the lives of 16 passengers and injuring 45 more as vehicles were en route to Sehwan city in Pakistan’s Sindh province for the urs of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, according to Dawn.
In one incident, five people died and 10 were injured after a van collided with a trailer near Qazi Ahmed town in the Shaheed Benazirabad District. In a separate accident, 11 passengers from Burewala in Punjab lost their lives, and another 35 were hurt when a local bus crashed near Ranipur in Khairpur district.
Qazi Ahmed’s Station House Officer (SHO) Waseem Mirza confirmed the incidents, explaining that the van, carrying devotees to the shrine in Jamshoro district, initially struck a donkey cart before colliding with an oncoming trailer. Rescue teams transported the deceased and wounded to Qazi Ahmed Taluka Hospital, with some critically injured patients sent to the Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women in Nawabshah, where three were pronounced dead upon arrival.
In Khairpur, Deputy Commissioner Ahmed Fawad Shah reported that a bus from Burewala crashed into a rickshaw on the National Highway, with the bus apparently trying to avoid the rickshaw. The casualty count included 11 dead and 35 injured. The deceased and injured were taken to several medical facilities, including the Rural Health Centre in Hingorja and the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences in Khairpur.
SSP Khairpur, Tauheed Memon, noted that legal procedures were ongoing to identify the victims, and both the senior superintendent of police and the Vehari deputy commissioner were coordinating with the local authorities.
Accidents on Pakistan’s highways are common, primarily due to excessive speeding, reckless overtaking, and a general disregard for traffic regulations.
Just the day before, five people died in another accident when an SUV improperly traveling on the Indus Highway collided with a car near Sann town in Jamshoro, injuring six others. Earlier incidents included a bus crash on the M-9 motorway that resulted in one death and numerous injuries and a collision on January 13 that killed two youths and a child due to speeding vehicles.
