ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI: Six people were killed and 14 others injured in a head on collision between two vehicles in Tarnol, in the capital’s suburbs, on Wednesday.

The accident took place on Fatehjang Road when the driver of a passenger van travelling from Bannu to Islamabad, carrying 18 passengers, lost control over the vehicle while avoiding a collision with another car.

The van ended up in the opposite lane where it collided with a bus travelling from Islamabad to Kohat.

Police and rescue teams arrived at the scene and shifted the injured and the dead to the hospital. Earlier in the evening, it had been erroneously reported by television channels that 20 people had been killed in the accident. A number of ambulances were sent to the scene and hospitals were alerted.

However, when rescue workers arrived, they found that six, including both the drivers, had died on the spot and the rest who were unconscious were injured.

The deceased were identified as Rohan Khan, 55, Kifayat Ullah 15, the drivers Mohammad Javed and Habeel Khan. Two others bodies are yet to be identified and have been kept at the Pims mortuary.

Spokesperson for Pims Dr Ayesha Esani told Dawn that an emergency was declared at the hospital as soon as news about the accident reached.

She said that three bodies and 11 injured were shifted to Pims, while the rest were taken to hospitals in Rawalpindi. The injured include seven men, three women and a five-year-old child and they are all in serious condition. “There are multiple injuries on their heads, jaws and faces,” she said.

The doctor said that no internal injuries had shown up on scans and the patients were shifted to the surgical ward, where they may be kept for a day.

Another doctor, requesting anonymity, said: “By evening not a single political personality had bothered to visit the injured persons. Pakistan Baitul Mal MD informed the hospital management that he will visit the patients but even he did not show up,” he said.

The injured were identified as Akhter Bibi, 35, Mohammad Fahim 31, Mir Nazwaz, 36, Abid Mehboob, 21, Mohammad Zubair, 36, Zamir Ahmed, 45, Ibrar Khan 17, Farooq Khan, 25, Zulfiqar, Matenur Rehman, Nihar Bibi and Shumaila Bibi.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2015

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