KHAIRPUR: Ten people were killed and about 13 others injured near Baghar Pul in Faiz Gunj when a Karachi-bound coach coming from a Punjab city collided head-on with a van going to Thari Mirwah from Karachi on Sunday.

On hearing the sound of the impact, a large number of area people, police and NGO workers rushed to the spot, officials said.

The people and rescue workers cut open the mangled wreckage of the vehicles to take out the dead and injured passengers.

The local police and activists of the Faiz Gunj Welfare Association (a local NGO) identified the dead as Altaf Hussain Dahri; Mairaj Shar; Ghulam Nabi Sheikh; Khadim Hussain Khaskheli; Azam Soomro (van cleaner); Qasim Maganhar and Karam Hussain (all adults) while three dead of a family were identified as 35-year-old Naimatullah Mallah, his 25-year-old wife Zulaikha Mallah and their 12-year-old son Ali Madad Mallah.

The injured were identified as Niaz Birohi, eight-year-old Urooj, Imam Khatoon, Naeem Memon, Shams Abro, Imdad Khatoon, Aitbaar, Nadeem Magsi, Akhtar Shar and three others. The victims were taken to local hospitals while three seriously injured people were referred to Karachi, Larkana and Sukkur hospitals.

Officials said that six of the dead persons belonged to Thari Mirwah taluka.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2014