Bad road, no warning signs caused fatal Khairpur bus crash: police
46
KARACHI: Police said Wednesday they will investigate government departments over a bus crash that killed at least 58 people, blaming the poor condition of the road for the accident.
Also read: At least 58 killed in accident near Khairpur
The bus smashed into a goods truck loaded with coal near Khairpur, 450 kilometres (300 miles) north of Karachi, on Tuesday. There were 18 children among the dead.
District police chief Nasir Aftab told AFP the initial investigation found the road was in poor condition and had no warning signs to alert drivers to the danger.
“A first information report (FIR) for becoming cause of death has been registered and the concerned departments will be investigated for the bus accident,” Aftab said.
He said it was the first time a government department would be investigated for a road accident in Pakistan.
Motorway police official Faisal Chachar said that a 61-kilometre (38-mile) stretch of the road was in poor condition, having developed a significant furrow in its surface.
A senior motorway police officer told AFP on Tuesday the bus driver, carrying Pashtun families from northwestern Swat valley to Karachi, had lost control after hitting the rut in the road.
Pakistan has an appalling record of fatal traffic accidents due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving. Crashes killing dozens of people are not uncommon.
In April a bus smashed into a tractor-trailer in a high-speed collision in Sindh, killing 42 people, while in March a horrific crash between two buses and a petrol tanker left 35 dead, with many burned alive when the fuel ignited.
The mountainous areas of Kashmir and the north, where drivers career around narrow hairpin bends over deep ravines with scant regard for safety, are particularly prone to accidents.
Three crashes in the space of 10 days in March in Kashmir and the northwest left a total of 46 people dead.
Case registered against NHA officers
A case was registered against the National Highway Authority (NHA) over the Khairpur road tragedy that left at least 58 people dead and several others injured.
The FIR has held NHA officers and other staff members responsible for the accident.
Take a look: Unfit driver blamed for Khairpur tragedy
To quantify the grave problem that persists, Dawn.com has visualised Pakistan's traffic accidents, built from data available from the PBS.
The data shows a downwards trend in accidents, deaths and injuries in general since 2004, although total numbers remain high.
``
``
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (46) Closed
Nov 12, 2014 02:12pm
Sad incident
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 02:21pm
The case should be filed against CM sind as well....who heads everything
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 02:30pm
@faz I completely agree.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 02:31pm
Good move
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 02:35pm
Why would NHA or even the government be responsible for others reckless driving.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 02:40pm
Why on them? On what bases is the case registered!
MAKE proper laws for everything.
Don't act like stone age times to the higher authorities.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 02:45pm
What will happen after launching case?
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 02:55pm
you should walk the road carefully
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 02:55pm
Toll plaza after toll plaza after toll plaza after toll plaza. Where is all that money going. These high way authorities should be dragged into court on charges of murder and corruption.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 02:56pm
What about the rest of roads in the country? Clearly we need metro bus instead of cheap public transport.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 02:58pm
Birth, marriage and the date when one gets their driving license are the three most important dates in ones life’s calendar in civilized world. Did the driver had a license, ever got any training, had medical, spot checks for illegal drugs, a driving schedule???????. I can get a driving license from Karachi without ever been to testing center, can have a death certificate from Allied hospital Faisalabad and on same day a birth certificate from Lady Reading Peshawar. Life is quite cheap and in abundance in Pak land.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:00pm
Sind Govt.is responsible.They should pay the compensation to the. Families.The resposible officials should be tried for murders.
It was criminal negligence.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:12pm
Usually the experienced drivers of commercial vehicles have sufficient know how of the road where they use to drive frequently, they are very precisely aware of existence of very minute defects in the road, and if the road condition was not good the prime responsibility is to slow down the vehicle and drive carefully rather that vice versa. Non-availability of Road signs could be a problem for the drivers for the first time, and not for the frequent drivers. Further more such a reason of accident means that all vehicles passing from that section meet with an accident!!!!!
I strongly request to avoid harassment of the technical departments and lead to the actual reason.
For a violation at the end of the driver is very obvious as despite of a seating capacity of around fifty in the bus there were a lot more passengers on board, what sort of other safety measures can we expect from such a careless driver.
Government Officers are very easy pray, as the transporters are quite powerful and beyond reach.
I am not advocating for Non-existence of the Road signs, but to investigate the right cause.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:13pm
@SadFace It is not about reckless driving. It is about bad road condition and lack of warning signs, leading to this fatal accident.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:15pm
@Dr.Haroon Ali Muhammad. Why compensation should be paid for personal responsibility of Sindh government officials? That money belongs to the poor people of the province, not to compensate for corrupt and ineptitude.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:16pm
I would also like to draw attention that the accidents also took place on Lahore - Islamabad Motorway Kallar - Kahar area, despite of very clear road signs...
EDUCATION AND RESPONSIVENESS TRAINING OF BUS DRIVERS ALONGWITH THEIR ACCOUNTABILITY IS STRONGLY REQUIRED.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:18pm
They only take care of toll plaza so that no vehicle pass without paying the toll...
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:19pm
@SadFace I understand that the accident was caused due to terrible state of road around the scene of accident. Since NHA is responsible for upkeep of the road, they should take the blame. There is no suggestion at this time that it was caused due to reckless driving.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:20pm
This is a very good initiative taken by the government after Supreme Court has intervened. This is really a criminal negligence by the National Highway Authority (NHA), I really do not understand that how do they get away with so many accidents on the roads without having safety signs on the road during construction. This loss is irreparable, but I hope in future they fully enforce safety measures on the roads, actually no every construction site shall be enforced by standard safety measures to avoid any accidents. Every criminal is innocent until proven guilty, but for safety accidents, they are guilty until proven innocent.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:21pm
@Dr.Haroon Ali Muhammad I think it has got to be the Highway Authority.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:22pm
@Dr.Haroon Ali Muhammad, for your sake of knowledge, National Highway comes under Federal Government jurisdiction.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:44pm
The driver booked by the Highway Police just minutes before the accident for overloading and reckless driving. Then how bad roads are responsible ? What about thousands of other vehicles running without accident the same day?
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:45pm
Good that GOVT agency is being made responsible. In India, huge number of people lose life due to improper roads and callous attitude of departments that should be maintaining roads. Research tells more than 40% of accidents are caused by bad road design and other faults of agency. Watch "Satyamev Jayate" episode on road safety, it will ring a bell.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 03:56pm
The whole system, including the transport department , NHA , Motorway police , federal / provincial government , bus owners and drivers , is responsible for certain fatal accidents . Safe roads , persistent monitoring and evaluation of the transport system and strict accountability of the responsibles can be efficient solutions to avoid such accidents.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 04:01pm
Good move....road conditions Pindi -Lahore G T road is also very poor.
It needs immediate action by NHA whois responsible for maintaining it right.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 04:03pm
@SadFace because it is their obligation to protect life of citizens. Why is the road in such a bad shape, why are there no warning signs? Where did all the funds go allocated for building roads?
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 04:22pm
National Highway Authority must be taken to task for not putting the road signs. I am, however, surprised to note that Motorway Police while blaming NHA for poor road condition, has very conveniently overlooked the rash driving by these passenger buses plying on the highway. I frequently travel on this road and have often found these daredevil drivers driving recklessly and completely ignoring any road signs, which is hardly noticed by the NHA !! Motorway Police instead of meeting their 'fine collections targets, should pay more attention to these passenger buses.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 04:29pm
Mere registering case is not enough, but the key thing should be that the culprits are brought to book for their ignorance and fault. In most of such cases, the main culprits avoid punishment due to their influence.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 04:29pm
Main road going from karachi to Ubauro in Sindhi is in very bad condition. NHA as well as its Federal government is directly responsible for this tragedy, hence recovery from different tool plazas boots are also awarded by NHA not a Sind Government, therefore burden of proof lies with NHA & same must be tried under Pakistan Penal Code without a delay. I am directly experienced by driving from karachi to Ubauro every month, the way I feel by driving on this road seemed that we are still in living in stone age. Hence, NHA is once again notified that how much it will take more lives of human beings? ????
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 04:34pm
This authority stinks and stings
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 04:39pm
People at helm callously disregard safety and yet they are let free despite loss of lives due to their criminal negligence. I once worked in govt. deptt. where I was responsible to monitor highway construction work, NLC being the main contractor had dug deep excavation without any warning sign posts or safety measures along the road under rehabilitation, I told project manager to put the safety measures in place but he rather was cynical to my instruction and smilingly remarked I don't want to waste resource and time on useless work, to my surprise the project manager happened to be a serving major from the corps of engineers.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 04:39pm
We never learn lessons.The precious loss of life could have been averted.but this time all those responsible should be held responsible.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 04:57pm
Government [Sindh and Federal] and NHA is responsible for whole mess. Who will punish them, beyond the understanding of common man?
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 05:42pm
For God sake..... NHA should provide cat-eyes on these highways.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 05:49pm
@mansoor Well said. I hope it goes through the Pakistan's authorities brains and take corrective actions. They should develop proper regulations to improve on road safety. I can add few more requirements that government should look into; these are: Had the bus passed its road worthy test? Was there only one driver & why on long route and had he 6-8 hours sleep/rest before this journey? What made him to go onto the incoming traffic side? Was it an human error? Was it a mechanical failure? Was the road fit for driving and had reasonable traffic signs? What was the weather condition? Was a poor visibility due to fog or darkness? Above all what was the speed limit?
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 06:08pm
Safety on the highway in is least important in subcontinent. I have traveled by car in India and Nepal and found the reckless driving by individuals and bus/truck drivers. I have seen a minister car on the highway going over the speed limit, Everyday there are incident of such accident. Have you ever seen anyone getting speeding ticket on highways.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 06:23pm
@ajmal : Every road, including roads in Islamabad are in deplorable conditions, thanks to the selfish, self enriching authoritarians of authorities who love greed to such an extent that, for them even taking lives of unsuspecting people in hundreds, is nothing even to blink !
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 06:47pm
Now I really hate our ruling politicians who have no sense about their real responsibilities and instead they are all doing
bak bak on media all the time .Whoever is responsible for this sad incident should be brought to justice. They were our Pakistanis, humans.what a shame for NHA and authorities.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 06:50pm
Government department should be responsible for the idiotically act of bravery by the sleepy (psycho) driver who was on the wrong side of road and hit the truck on the opposite direction... WOW...!!! And our people support this act of the driver ignoring that the real cause will not be highlighted and the actual transport Mafia will still carry out what they were up to...
I assume that the people favouring the driver's stupidity should be given this opportunity to experience the roller coaster ride on these express buses which are designed for 40-46 passengers and carry more then 60 and then they will realise the actual problem which needs to be addressed. A driver should be qualified enough and atleast two driver for these long trips, not one sleepy driver.
The transport Mafia should be dealt accordingly and rules should come into place which would force the buses to take only designated number of passengers and these rash driving risky acts should have huge punishments for the driver and the transport Mafia who force the driver to be on time at the designates stops and destinations.
God help our country and country men.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 07:32pm
This bus driver was fined with ticket for speeding 1 hour ago in Ghotki and again he did speeding and Rammed into truck wot about owners of buses who force drivers for speeding to earn more money ??
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 07:53pm
"..the first time a government department would be investigated for a road accident in Pakistan" why for the first time?
In any case, I (as a Sindhi) will continue to support the current Sindh's ruling party - sarcasm intended.
Recommend
0
Nov 12, 2014 08:42pm
so the transport mafia wins a case on NHA actually means case closed
Recommend
0
Nov 13, 2014 12:17am
@Dr.Haroon Ali Muhammad For you information, National Highway Authority is a Federal Government authority. I do not see how the Government of Sindh is responsible for this accident.
Recommend
0
Nov 13, 2014 12:38am
@faz case should be filled against everyone who don't follow basic traffic rules.. no one stop for red light..
Recommend
0
Nov 13, 2014 03:31am
What else can they say? After all, they have to put the blame of accident on somebody.
Recommend
0
Nov 13, 2014 09:54am
@faz NHA is under Federal Govt. and not the CM..He has to his credit many other Mishaps ..let us be fair and demand NHA to bring the condition of roads in Sindh as good as these are in Punjab and KPK.
Recommend
0
