RAWALPINDI, July 23: Three boys were killed after their motorcycle crashed into a roadside traffic barrier during wheeling near Chur Chowk on Peshawar Road Monday.

City Traffic Officer Syed Ishtiaq Hussain Shah said the three riders of a Honda 125cc were killed after their vehicle veered off the road and crashed into an iron bar erected along the roadside.

He added: “They were attempting stunts when they tumbled and crashed into the roadside barrier. Two of them were killed on the spot while the third one died after reaching hospital.”

He said no traffic warden was on duty at the time of the accident as it happened at about 5:30am, whereas the deployment of traffic police takes place at 7am.

The deceased were identified as Atif Abbasi, 17; Aleem Riaz, 20, and Haris Basharat, 21, all residents of Dhoke Syedan.

Akmal Abbasi, the father of Atif, told Dawn that his son had recently cleared his matriculation examination and was preparing to get admission to a college.

“After offering his Fajr prayers in a mosque, he left the house without telling where he was going. Later, my wife received a phone call from a hospital that Atif had been admitted there in a critical condition.” He said before he reached hospital, his son had died.

According to a local resident, the three friends killed in the accident had a brawl with another motorbike rider during a racing on Sunday.

Though the petty issue was settled at that time, they had challenged him to a race.

The bodies were handed over to their families after postmortem. Police said the relatives of the accident victims did not want to register a case.

It has become a common practice that groups of young motorcycle riders gather on different roads and then start showing off their ‘skills’, endangering their own lives and that of others as well.

Though the city traffic police had made arrangements to prevent motorcyclists from wheeling during Ramazan, the practice goes on unchecked, especially on Peshawar Road, Jhelum Road and at Committee Chowk underpass after Sehri and Iftar.