GUJRANWALA: Five passengers of a van were killed and 12 others were injured in a collision between the van and a truck in the Nokhar area on Hafizabad-Gujranwala road, some 30km from here, on Monday.

The van left Hafizabad for Gujranwala at 10am and when it reached near the Nokhar area, a dump truck coming from the opposite side collided with it. As a result, the van hit a tree and overturned. It was quickly engulfed in flames.

The locals gathered at the scene and started rescuing the van passengers. Later, rescue teams from Hafizabad and Gujranwala also reached there and started the rescue operation.

Ehsan and Nauman were among the five people who died in the incident while three deceased women could not be identified.

The injured included Surayya, 55, Munir, 70, Naila, 17, Rehana, 35, Imran, 32, Aamir, 28, Shabbir, 35, Shahbaz, 30 and Sajida, 35. They were shifted to the Hafizabad DHQ Hospital.

Umer Ghuman, a representative of Rescue 1122 Gujranwala, told Dawn the bodies of two women were brought to the DHQ Hospital, Gujranwala, for autopsy and DNA test for their identification.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2017