DADU: Six devotees of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, among them two children, were killed and three were injured when their motorcycle-rickshaw collided head-on with a Mazda truck on the Sehwan-Jamshoro section of the Indus Highway at Sono Khan Rind village near Lakky Shah Saddar town early on Sunday morning.

The devotees, who were all related to each other, were going to Sehwan from Karachi for pilgrimage when they met the accident. Five people died instantly.

They were identified as Nasir, 45; his wife Salma, 40, his six-year-old son Ghazi Khan, Maryam, 16, daughter of Maqsood and Ahmed, 45, son of Mohammmad Yousuf.

Of the four injured, 25-year-old Mah Noor died on her way when she was being shifted to Liaquat University Hospital (LUH), Hyderabad, from Syed Abdullah Shah Medical Institute of Health and Sciences, Sehwan, where all the injured were taken, according to Edhi Foundation, Sehwan, in-charge Nisar Ahmed.

The other injured were; Ali Abbas, Hamza and his daughter Jannat 18. The condition the injured was stated to be serious, he added.

Dr Moeen Siddiqui, director of the institute, said that all bodies had been sent to their native locality, Jamali Goth, in Karachi, while the injured were referred to LUH Hyderabad for treatment.

Sehwan ASP Dr Sami Malik described the accident as a head-on collision between the two vehicles.

Police had impounded the vehicles and detained cleaner of the truck, Ali Hyder, for interrogation as the driver had escaped after the accident.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2017