Road tragedy victims included 14 wedding guests

Published November 13, 2014
FUNERAL prayers for members of a family killed in the Khairpur road tragedy being held in the old Sabzi Mandi area on Wednesday.—White Star
FUNERAL prayers for members of a family killed in the Khairpur road tragedy being held in the old Sabzi Mandi area on Wednesday.—White Star

KARACHI: Abdul Wadood had just been shifted to a ward at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre a few hours after his surgery on Wednesday. Every once in a while in his stupor he would moan, open his eyes and ask about his mother and other relatives who were with him on the fateful Karachi-bound bus from Swat, which met with an accident near the Theri bypass in Khairpur in the early hours of Tuesday. He would be told that all were fine, not to worry and try and rest after which he would close his eyes again.

“How can we tell him that most of them never made it? He has lost 14 relatives, including his mother, and he is in this condition that he couldn’t even see their faces one final time or be present at their burial. He is suffering from internal injuries. We’ll tell him when he is strong enough to withstand the shock,” said Namroz Khan, his cousin, tears brimming in his eyes.

Most of the passengers in the bus were related and hailed from Gurnai village in Bahrain, Swat. “The bus leaves from Bahrain every day. And our relatives on it were coming down to Karachi for a big family wedding. The girl was in Karachi, where the family came to settle near old Sabzi Mandi a few years ago, and the boy in Swat. Their nikah was held last year. We were all preparing for the rukhsati now,” Namroz said.


‘We just buried five relatives ... and there is another funeral for several more in the evening’


“The bus may not have had as many seats as the passengers travelling on it. Apart from the men and women there were also many children on it and since a ticket costs Rs2,500, the passengers with children made the little ones sit on their laps.”

About talk of who was really responsible for the horrific accident, the relative only shook his head. “Look sister, some say it was the driver’s fault, others blame the National Highway authorities. What can anyone say or do now? The driver is dead, too. We knew him well. He hailed from Mansehra, Hazara, poor man. We only like to think that this was written in our fate,” he said raising his eyes heavenward.

Another of Abdul Wadood’s relatives who died in the accident was his brother-in-law. Sher Khan, another cousin at the patient’s bedside, said Abdul Wadood’s younger sister had passed away just a month back from high blood pressure and diabetes compilations during pregnancy. “And her widower husband died now in this accident. They have four little children of whom the eldest, a nine-year-old boy, had lost his right arm in a freak accident with a power transformer back in Swat. Life is going to be tough for the four orphans,” he said shaking his head and turning his gaze away to the floor.

“From the time that we heard of the accident, we have been running around and calling each other and burying people. We just buried five relatives in the Mohammad Shah Graveyard in New Karachi and there is another funeral for several more at Qasba Colony in the evening. Our mobile phones’ batteries went dead and there has been no time to recharge the phones. Many of us drove to the accident site, too, expecting to find complete chaos and mismanagement, but no,” Sher Khan said.

“The police, Rangers, government officials at the site along with volunteer teams from Edhi, Al-Khidmat, etc, worked hand-in-hand. Security around the accident area was also very strict. One of our women was carrying Rs100,000 and six tolas of gold and another Rs60,000 and three to four tolas of gold. But after quickly verifying that we were their relatives, the security personnel handed us the money and gold,” he said.

Another relative, Nur Mohammad, said: “Finding so many of our relatives dead and the rest injured, we were wondering what else we’d be made to suffer and how we would transport all of them to Swat or Karachi. But we are grateful to the government and the Civil Hospital in Khairpur for making all the necessary arrangements. Even a C-130 was arranged to transport some of our dead to Swat.”

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2014

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