ISLAMABAD: A man and two of his grandchildren were killed and another two grandsons seriously injured as they crossed the Faisal Avenue on Sunday morning.

The driver abandoned the car and fled from the scene of the accident after hitting the family and the police confiscated the vehicle.

A police official, requesting anonymity, told Dawn that Waris, 52, was walking to church from Sector G-8, with his granddaughter and three grandsons. “They crossed the road near the Rescue 15 office holding hands. A speeding car hit them as they were crossing the road, five abreast,” he said.

“Waris worked as a security guard in a private company. Musa, 8 and Hania, 4 were killed in the accident while Rehan and Musar were seriously injured,” the official said.

The dead bodies and the injured children were shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and later the bodies were given to the relatives for burial. Rehan and Musar, according to sources at Pims, are out of danger.

Margalla Police Station Duty Officer Haji Nawaz told Dawn that Waris was a resident of Sector G-7 but his son, who is an employee of Radio Pakistan, lives in Sector G-8. “Waris went over to his son’s house to take his grandchildren to church,” he said.

The officer said that while the driver is still at large, he will soon be arrested. “He left his car at the scene so it will be long before the owner is traced from the registration number of the car as the excise and taxation department has records of all car owners,” he said.

He pointed out that there is a pedestrian bridge, a few hundred yards from the spot where the accident took place but few people use it. “It is a tragic accident but people should also remember that the roads of the capital have been made signal free for high speed traffic so pedestrian bridges should be used,” he said.

Many of Islamabad’s main roads including Islamabad Expressway and Faisal Avenue are notorious for such accidents. Around four years ago, a student of the H-8 Commerce College was run over and killed on Faisal Avenue. Fellow students protested the incident by blocking the road and also damaged a number of vehicles.

The incident prompted authorities to construct pedestrian bridges on the road. However, this did not prevent accidents as not many people are seen using these bridges.

In November 2014, a car driven by a high-ranking army officer’s nephew ran over a pedestrian crossing the expressway near Gangal. The car then swerved out of control and hit some more people standing at the roadside.

The driver was taken to the Combined Military Hospital and the four injured to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) where doctors pronounced Sufyan, 18, and Aurangzaib, 35, dead. After the incident relatives of the deceased blocked the Expressway for several hours.

In July 2014 a speeding car owned by a money changer hit a motorcyclist near Zeropoint injuring a man and woman riding the bike. The injured were taken to the hospital where the woman could not sustain her injuries and died.

The driver of the car tried to flee the scene but the police arrested him along with a cashier and two gunmen travelling with him. After the accident, people from nearby areas blocked the road in protest for half an hour.

A police official, requesting anonymity, said that every month almost six to eight people are killed on the road. A majority of those killed are motorcyclists, he said.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2015

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