01 January 2005	Saturday	19 Ziqa'ad 1425

HYDERABAD, Dec 31: At least 31 people were killed and 12 injured when a Karachi-bound bus rammed into a stationary oil-tanker and caught fire at the New Saeedabad toll plaza, about 45km from here, on Friday morning.

The tanker had stopped for paying toll when the bus dashed into it. Both vehicles caught fire as a result of the crash and were completely gutted. Sources said it was raining at the time of the accident and the bus driver could not see the tanker.

Some passengers managed to get out of the bus after smashing window-panes with the help of local people and police personnel because the hydraulic system of doors stopped functioning due to the fire and smoke inside the bus.

Of the 31 dead, 24 have been identified. The victims included two families, one from Karachi and the other from Shikarpur. Those from Shikarpur are: Ayesha, Danish, Zain, Dilawar, Aziz (daughter and sons of Raja Pahore), Hurmat Begum, wife of Raja Pahore, Ghulam Mohammad Pahore, son of Faiz Mohammad, Khan Mohammad, son of Faiz Mohammad, Sana, daughter of Ghulam Rasool, Ayesha, wife of Inayat, and Aleeza, daughter of Inayat.

The family of Akhtar Hussain Naqvi belonged to the F. B. Area in Karachi. The victims included: Naseem Fatima, Bilquees Fatima, Parveen Fatima, Nuzhat Fatima, Akhtar Hussain Naqvi and Irfan Naqvi.

Other deceased are: Zaheer Baloch, Asif, Irfan Sheikh, Faiz Mohammad, Latif Soomro, Anwar Bhutto and Alif Khan Bunglani. The injured were initially admitted to a hospital in New Saeedabad from where they were shifted to the Hyderabad Civil Hospital.

They injured were identified as Nadir, son of Nazar, Sajjad, son of Ali Khan, Naseem, son of Shamsuddin, Mudassar Naqvi, son of Neik Hussain (nephew of Akhtar Hussain Naqvi), Sher Mohammad, son of Faiz Mohammad, Raja, son of Mohammad Achar, Irfan, son of Sheikh Abdul Karim, Bhalol, son of Leemo Khan, Mashooq, son of Leemo Khan, Zahid Hussain, son of Allah Dino and Ghulam Ali, son of Mohammad Ramzan and Ghulam Hussain.

The bus was coming from Shikarpur while the tanker had left Nawabshah for Karachi. One of the injured, Ghulam Hussain, said that he had boarded the bus in Khairpur and there were 42 passengers in the bus at that time.

He said it was raining and the driver could not notice the tanker due to poor visibility and rammed into it. He also claimed that windscreen wipers of the bus were not working.

A fire broke out inside the bus, forcing passengers to break open window-panes to come out, he said. The bodies were completely charred. Describing the incident as horrific, the New Saeedabad police said the passengers trapped in the bus screamed for help.

No formal FIR has been lodged with the police till the filing of this report. Police said a case was being lodged against the drivers of the two vehicles.

A state of emergency was declared in the New Saeedabad hospital, the Hyderabad Civil Hospital and the People's Hospital Nawabshah where doctors and paramedical staff had been called. Police from Khebrani, Hala, and New Saeedabad police stations oversaw the rescue operation.

ARRIVAL IN KARACHI: The bodies of five accident victims were brought to the F.B. Area, Block-20, later in the day. Sources in the Edhi Foundation said that bodies of Irfan, his uncle Akhtar Hussain, his sister Nighat, Naseem Begum and Bilquees Begum had been brought to the city.

Irfan was an accountant in the Sindh Technical Board of Education. Their funeral prayers were offered at Masjid-i-Khairul Amal in the F.B Area. According to an injured passenger, some 10-15 minutes before the accident, the driver had stooped the bus and the conductor cleaned the vehicle's windscreen with newspapers as its wiper was not working in the rain.

According to the Edhi Foundation, more bodies might be brought to the city, but their number and time of arrival were not clear.