HYDERABAD / DADU: At least 14 people, including three of a family, were killed and 17 others injured when a truck coming from the opposite direction rammed into a passenger bus on Indus Highway in Sindh’s Jamshoro district on Thursday.

The Jamshoro police said most of the injured had been shifted to the Liaquat University Hospital from a government-run hospital in Manjhand, a rural town where the fatal accident took place in the morning near Thori Phatak.

The bus (number plate GLT/D-1895) was en route to Karachi from Rahim Yar Khan, while the truck (TKM-442) — laden with water coolers — was on its way to Sehwan from Karachi.

The collision produced a blast-like sound, prompting people in the vicinity to gather for rescue.

Deceased mostly hail from Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan

Residents of nearby villages rushed to the spot and pulled the screaming passengers out of the bus.

A part of the bus caught fire after the accident, but it was put out before any fire tenders arrived.

Locals said Motorway police had to cut parts of the bus to free some of the injured.

Edhi volunteers reached the site after an hour or so. An ambulance from the Manjhand taluka hospital arrived along with some paramedics and villagers, helping them in providing medical care.

The road remained blocked for around an hour, and it was only opened after police moved the wreckage of the ill-fated vehicles to restore traffic on both tracks of the highway.

Jamshoro Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Javed Baloch told Dawn the accident happened due to the truck driver’s negligence and he struck the bus coming from the opposite direction.

However, some of the injured told journalists the bus driver was driving recklessly and kept talking over his phone frequently despite complaints from passengers.

Jamshoro’s district health officer, Dr Vinod Kumar, said the bodies and the injured had been shifted to Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) hospitals in Jamshoro and Hyderabad. He said the 14 people died on the spot.

The bodies were dispatched to their homes for burial through Edhi ambulances. No FIR was immediately lodged, the police said.

The deceased were identified as Samar Abbas, 18, son of Munir Ahmed; Mukhtiar Hussain, 55, son of Phul Khan; Pahlwan, 40, son of Qadir Bux; Mohammad Nadeem, 40, son of Saeed Ahmed; Ayan Ali, 7, son of Suleman Ahmed; Nadeem, 42, son of Jamil Ahmed; Rashid Hussain son of Karim Bux; Mumtaz Bibi, 50, wife of Shareef; Haq Nawaz, 46, son of Abdul Khaliq Arain; Iqra, 34, wife of Mohammad Siddique; six-month-old Khadija and her mother Noreen, wife of Zulqarnain Rajput; and Izzat Ibi, wife of Ghulam Hyder. One dead remained unidentified.

They were residents of Ahmedpur, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Karachi.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took notice of the accident and expressed sorrow over the loss of lives. He instructed Jamshoro’s deputy commissioner to transfer the injured passengers to hospitals immediately and contact their heirs.

On Aug 16, at least 28 people were killed and several others injured in two bus accidents in the province — one near the Jalalpur Pirwala interchange, on Multan-Sukkur Motorway (M-5), and the other near Rohri, on the National Highway N-5.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2022