KARACHI: A teenage girl was killed while her siblings and father were injured when an oil tanker rammed into a house in Korangi near Darul Uloom on Tuesday after the driver of the heavy vehicle lost its control, demolishing the single-storey structure, police and rescue officials said.

They said the oil tanker bearing registration number TKR-843 was approaching the main road when the driver lost control and in a failed attempt to pull brakes first hit the electricity pole along the service lane and then rammed into the house in Bengali Para. The collision led to a huge blast that triggered panic and brought the single-storey structure down.

“Local people gathered and initiated rescue efforts on their own,” said Inspector Nasir Mahmood, the SHO of Awami Colony police station. “Total six people were recovered from the debris who were identified as 50-year-old Abdul Hakeem, who owned the house, and his four children — Naureen, 16; Sohail, 14; Shumaila, 15; Noman and Adnan, 12. They all were rushed to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where Naureen died from head injuries.”

He said the driver and his assistant fled after the incident, but the police had traced all relevant details through registration of the vehicle which would help locate and arrest them. The tanker fortunately, he said, did not carry oil or any other product; it was moving for refilling to Zulfikarabad oil terminal on the National Highway.

“The FIR [410/2017] has been registered under Section 320 [punishment for qatl-i-khata by rash or negligent driving] of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the father of the victim,” added the SHO of Awami Colony police station.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2017