May 03, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1429

KARACHI, May 2: At least seven persons died in separate incidents in different parts of the city since late Thursday night, police said.

Four persons including a woman were killed in an accident near Gulshan-i-Hadeed late Thursday night.

Police said that a car, part of a wedding party (Baraat), coming from Dadu collided head on with a trailer carrying vehicles from Karachi at a link road near Gulshan-i-Hadeed.

Among the dead was the grandmother of the groom. Police said that Head Constable Ghulam Husain, posted in Nawabshah, was returning along with the marriage party of his brother-in-law. In an attempt to reach their destination before the rest of their family members, he took a short cut by taking the link road bypass. However, his car collided with a long vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

Police said that four out of the five occupants of the car died on the spot and only one survived the accident but was said to be in a critical condition.

Crushed to death

A young girl died was crushed to death in Baldia Town on Friday evening. Police said that the girl was reportedly crossing the main road near Hub River Road when a fast-moving vehicle knocked her down. She was taken to a nearby private hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Fire

An employee of a private firm died in a fire that broke out in the office premises early Friday morning in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

Police said that a fire broke out in a students’ immigration consultation office located in Block 13-C.

Upon receiving the news about the fire, fire tenders reached the spot and broke in through a locked door and started their rescue operation.

As soon as they finished the operation, they heard a cellphone ringing. Upon search, the firemen found a man lying dead in the office store. Later, he was identified as Adam, a caretaker of the office. Firemen said that the victim had apparently died from suffocation.

In another incident, a crew member of a fishing boat died and two others suffered burns after the boat caught fire at the Karachi Fish Harbour on Friday night.

Director Operations Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority, Waheed Ahmed, told Dawn that the fire broke out when a crew was preparing meal due to which fishing nets, made of nylon, lying onboard caught fire. And the fire quickly spread due to gusty winds, he added.

One crew member reportedly a cardiac patient suffered a heart attack and was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital while two others suffered minor injuries.

The KFHA official said that the fire tenders also failed to reach the spot on time due to traffic jams. However, the fire was put out and the boat was saved from complete destruction.