February 18, 2008	Monday	Safar 10, 1429

KASUR, Feb 17: At least 13 people, including a woman, were killed while 36 sustained serious injuries when a Multan-bound bus fell from a flyover over a railway crossing in Habibabad locality near Pattoki on Saturday night.

Dawn has learnt that this was third major accident on the flyover, which, according to the locals had a faulty design, and at least 60 people had died while scores of others injured during the past 15 years.

Initial reports quoting some police officials had, however, suggested that over 40 people had died in the Saturday’s accident.

Talking to Dawn on Sunday, DPO Tariq Abbas Qureshi clarified that the initial figure was based on some misinformation provided by the local deputy superintendent of police and the station house officer keeping in view the severity of the accident.

Qureshi said that it was expected that all the passengers onboard at the time the bus had caught fire after falling from the bridge had succumbed to their burns before being rescued. But, luckily, the death toll remained less than their guess, as nobody knew the actual number of passengers present inside the bus at that time, he added.

The ill-fated bus on its way from Lahore to Multan was crossing the Habibabad flyover when its driver lost control over steering owing to speeding and fell down from a height of around 40 feet.

According to eyewitnesses, the driver was trying to overtake another bus, but could not make it and instead lost control over his own vehicle.

As the bus fell down, it caught fire, making the rescue work extremely difficult. The fire brigade and rescue squads extinguished the fire and handled the survivors.

Salma Bibi of Multan, Shahid Hussain of Muzaffargarh, Muhammad Shahbaz of Gujrat, Muhammad Amjad of Toba Tek Singh, Khalid Mahmood of Khanewal, Ali Akbar of Gujrat, Muhammad Yousaf of Changa Manga, Muhammad Hayyat of Mian Channu and Tanvir Ahmed of Multan died on the spot. Four bodies are, however, yet to be identified.

The injured were taken to Pattoki’s tehsil headquarters hospital from where six people were taken to Jinnah Hospital in Lahore owing to their critical condition.

Motorway Police’s patrolling teams, Eagle 2 and Tiger 1, headed by chief patrolling officer Babar Mahmood along with Khalid Bin Majeed, Asghar Ali and Farooq Ahmed rushed to the scene after receiving a call at Emergency Number 130.

Later, NH&MP SSP Shoaib Dastgeer also reached the scene and supervised the rescue operation.

On Sunday, Kissan Board and Anjuman Kashtkaran office-bearers headed by Haji Muhammad Ramzan and Roy Muhammad Afzal Kharal, respectively, held an emergency meeting at the Kissan Board’s office in Burjmahalam near Pattoki and condemned the indifference of authorities concerned for turning a deaf ear to repeated complaints of poor construction and faulty design of the overhead bridge.

Haji Ramzan said that the flyover was built 40 years ago and it was designed with an ascending slope making an angle approximately up to 75 degrees for which the vehicles, including trolleys laden with sugar cane, were bound to move faster on the overhead bridge to cross it successfully. He said that it was almost impossible for a vehicle with poor engine to cross it conveniently. Also, there was a sharp turn atop the bridge negotiating with which was an awfully difficult job while driving the vehicle at an accelerated speed.

He added that railings on both sides of the overhead bridge had gone missing at a number of points and also there were no lighting arrangements on the flyover.

He said 37 people were killed in an accident occurring first on the flyover in 1992 and then another nine were killed when a bus fell from it in 2001.

He said that repair work was launched twice to remove several mini speed breakers (bumpers) at the joints of grids spanning the bridge, which cause numerous jolts of severe intensity, but these efforts too did not bear fruit.

He said that the locals have protested the faulty design of the bridge a number of times and their delegations had met senior Public Works Department (PWD) officials and other authorities concerned, but to no avail.

The people have demanded reconstructing the bridge afresh or at least taking some remedial steps for the time being to avert another major mishap in future.