LAHORE/MULTAN/SWAT: As many as 28 passengers including women and children died dozens other sustained multiple injuries in two deadly road accidents occurred in Multan and near Rohri in Sindh on Tuesday.
According to Rescue 1122 and police, 20 people were killed when a passenger bus rammed into a fuel truck on the Sukkur-Multan motorway on Tuesday.
According to the officials, the accident took place at 2:20am near the city of Jalalpur Pirwala in the Multan district. The bus was carrying 24 passengers and two drivers, and was traveling from Lahore to Karachi.
موٹر وے ایم فائیو پر کے قریب آئل ٹینکر اور مسافر بس میں تصادم: وزیر اعلی کا حادثے میں قیمتی انسانی جانوں کے ضیاع پر گہرے دکھ اور افسوس کا اظہار
“زخمی افراد کو علاج معالجے کی بہترین سہولتیں فراہم کی جائیں” وزیر اعلی پنجاب کی انتظامیہ کو ہدایت
کمشنر ملتان سے رپورٹ طلب کر لی pic.twitter.com/5YJXQanTGo— CM Punjab Updates (@CMPunjabPK) August 16, 2022
A Rescue 1122 official identified the operator as the Daewoo bus company.
Tahir Wattoo, Multan Deputy Commissioner, said early indications were that the bus driver’s negligence had caused the collision.
“Three buses were racing. One of them rammed into an oil tanker,” Imran Shaukat, an additional inspector general of police, told Reuters, describing the incident. The driver was also killed.
At 4am at motorway obarra junobi terrible accident happened between bus LES -1211- 09 and Oil TankerLDA/6. Bus that was moving from Lahore to Karachi hit oil Tanker from backside and fire erupted.06X persons got Injured and 20X died on the spot.On spot monitoring rescue process pic.twitter.com/r87E2OvvmF
— Commissioner Multan (@CommissionerMu2) August 16, 2022
The crash triggered a fire that engulfed both the tanker and the bus, he said. The oil tanker was beyond identification to determine what company it belongs to, he added.
A spokesman for the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) said the tanker’s driver fled the scene.
The injured were taken to hospital and at least six passengers were reported in critical condition, Wattoo added.
Some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and DNA tests will be conducted to identify the remains before the bodies are handed over to the families, Wattoo also said.
An employee at Daewoo’s Lahore office confirmed to Reuters that its bus was involved in the incident, and that the driver was among the dead.
Taking notice of the incident, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the chief minister, has sought a report from Aamir Khattak, commissioner of Multan Division. According to a statement issued by Elahi’s office, all aspects of the incident should be investigated and those responsible identified.
Expressing grief over the lives lost, Elahi also extended his condolences to the bereaved families and directed authorities to ensure the best possible medical treatment was provided to the injured.
Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered his condolences in a statement and asked health authorities to provide the best possible treatment to the injured.
EIGHT DIE, 38 INJURED
Meanwhile, eight persons died and 38 other including the driver and cleaner sustained multiple injuries when a Karachi-bound passenger coach, on the way from Swat, overturned near Rohri on National Highway and plunged into a ditch.
According to rescue officials, the Karachi-bound coach was coming from Swat and overturned when the driver made a sharp turn, falling into a ditch.
Persons in-charge of the Edhi Centre in Sukkur, Mohammad Urs Magsi and Gul Mahar, said that four women and two children were among the dead.
They said that rescue officials rushed to the scene soon after receiving information of the accident and shifted the bodies and the injured to Rohri Taluka Hospital where an emergency had been declared.
Soon after the incident, police and rescue teams rushed to the site and shifted the injured to district and civil hospitals. Meanwhile, Pakistan Army also reached the spot and were rescuing the passengers trapped in the passenger coach.
Syed Shahabuddin from Swat added:
The bus, bearing no GB-5454 of Matta Express with 49 passengers onboard, left Matta Tehsil of Swat for Karachi Monday morning. While taking a turn near Rohri on national Highway, the driver lost control of the steering and as result the bus fell down into a ditch.
Matta Express Manager Usman informed that there were 49 people in the vehicle, adding that all the passengers were residents of Kanju, Kabal and Matta Tehsils of Swat. He informed that according to initial reports, eight persons including women and children died and 38 others have been injured. The Manager said after the accident, a large number of relatives arrived from Karachi and shifted the bodies and injured to Karachi after immediate medical assistance, while some bodies and injured have been sent to Swat.
Expressing grief over the lives lost, Elahi also extended his condolences to the bereaved families and directed authorities to ensure the best possible medical treatment was provided to the injured.
Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered his condolences in a statement and asked health authorities to provide the best possible treatment to the injured.
جلال پور پیر والا انٹر چینج پر ہونے والا آئل ٹینکر کا حادثہ نہایت ہی افسوناک ہے ۔ حادثے میں 20 قیمتی جانوں کے ضیاع پر دکھی اور رنجیدہ ہوں۔ میری دعائیں غم زدہ خاندانوں کے ساتھ ہیں۔ اللہ تعالی سے دعا ہے کہ وہ مرحومین کو اپنے جوار رحمت میں جگہ دے اور پسماندگان کو صبر جمیل عطا فرمائے
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) August 16, 2022
