ISLAMABAD, June 16: At least 40 people died and 18 others were injured when an overloaded bus fell into the Soan river bed near Sihala on Wednesday morning after it was rammed by a trawler whose driver was reported to be asleep at that time.
The bus (FDC-299) heading towards Rawalpindi from Kallar Sayyidan was crossing the Kak bridge at around 6am when it was hit by the trawler from the rear. The bus driver Dhudad Khan lost control of the vehicle which veered off the road and, crashing through the concrete railings of the bridge, plunged into the river bed from a height of 70 feet.
Inspector of Sihala Police Station Muhammad Hussain Lasi, who is leading the investigation into the accident, blamed trawler driver Muhammad Tariq for the accident. Tariq died in the accident while two other people travelling in the trawler were injured.
Rescuers and villagers who had gathered at the scene pulled out bodies of victims and the injured from the wreckage of blood- splattered bus and helped police in shifting them to different hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Police said a large number of milkmen were also travelling in the bus. The hospital authorities and police said that most of the passengers died after being drowned in the river as there was four feet water at the time of the accident.
An unknown caller informed the Rawalpindi Rescue-15 about the accident at about 6:10am. Later, the Rescue-15 informed the Islamabad Rescue-15 about the accident at around 6:15 as the accident had occurred in the jurisdiction of Islamabad police, twin cities's Rescue-15 told Dawn.
Fifteen Edhi ambulances, seven of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), three of Rescue-15 Islamabad, and one of Federal Government Services Hospital (FGSH) were rushed to the place of the accident, the police said.
The hospital authorities said that at around 6:15 the police had informed them about the accident. At about 7:15 the first victim with injuries, Mushtaq Hussain, was shifted to Pims. Mr Hussain, an ex-army official, told Dawn that the passenger bus was coming to Pirwadahi, Rawalpindi, from Kaller Sydan.
"I boarded the bus at Rawat." "The driver was driving the bus carefully. When it reached the Kak bridge a heavy trawler rammed into the bus from rear and as a result the bus plunged into Sawan river," he added
Another injured Shehzad said that the death toll was high because a large number of passengers were travelling on the bus roof as well. The hospital authorities of Pims said the hospital received 28 bodies and seven injured.
The authorities of FGSH said that the hospital received the first body at around 8:05. Three bodies and four injured were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital, Rawalpindi.
Those who died in the accident have been identified as Khuda Dad, 50, son of Zardar, a resident of Rawat; Ghulam Mehboob, 30, son of Fazal Dad, a resident of Rawalpindi; Kashif Mehmood, 47, son of Mohammad Shafiq, a resident of Rawalpindi; Ghulam Murtaza, 45, son of Mohammad Sarwar, a resident of Rawalpindi; Ghazanfar Ali, 35, son of Zaman Ali, a resident of Kahuta; Ghulam Mustafa, 50, son of Balawal Khan, a resident of Saghari; Mohammad Riaz, 50, a resident of Islamabad; Mohammad Safeer, 40, son of Mohammad Ajayab, a resident of Kahura; Raja Mohammad Zaheer, son of Raja Mohammad Zaman, a resident of Rawalpindi; Karmat Din, son of Abdul Ghani, a resident of Rawalpindi; Abid Hussain, son of Fazal Ahmed, a resident of Rawalpindi; Shakil Ahmed, 35, son of Mohammad Khalil, a resident of Rawalpindi; Mohammad Mukthar, 25, son of Mohammad Ashraf, a resident of Kahuta; Shahid Mehmood, a resident of Islamabad; Sajeel, Shakil, Bashir Ahmed, Mohammad Yasin, Mohammad Akram, Mohammad Alomer Qazafi, Mohammad Taj, Zahid Mehmood, Noor Saleem Shah, Raja Tanveer Ahmed, Arsahad Mohammad, Azhar Mehmood, Azhar Hussain, Abdul Waheed, Sardar Mushtaq. The rest remained unidentified.
