KARACHI, Dec 24: The section officer of Malir traffic section was placed under suspension on Monday for dereliction of duty.

Twelve passengers died and 14 others were injured when the minibus they were travelling in fell down from the Malir bridge on Sunday morning.

The traffic police said numerous factors responsible for the accident, but the section officer, Zahoor Khan, had been suspended for his failure to check the speed limit of vehicles travelling on the bridge.

Initial investigations by the traffic police showed that the ill-fated minibus did not have valid route permit and the prescribed standard had not been followed in making its body. No scratches of brakes had been found on the road which suggested that the driver might have taken a sharp turn to the left and the minibus had gone out of his control.

The guard railing at the point where the minibus fell down from the bridge was already broken. The guard railings are meant for providing vehicles a support so that they could not fall down, but the railings were broken at several places.

The bridge was also dangerous for pedestrians as there were holes on the footpaths of the bridge, the investigations revealed.