DADU: As Dadu became the country’s hottest place with the mercury shooting up to 46 degrees Celsius on Saturday, at least six people died from heatstroke and by drowning while taking a bath in a canal to beat the heat over the past two days.

Besides, six devotees of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar died and five others were injured when a car collided with a wagon on Jamshoro-Sehwan Indus Highway near Manjhand town on Saturday.

The devotees were going to Sehwan Sharif to attend the 763 annual Urs of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, which was inaugurated on Saturday by adviser to the Sindh chief minister on Auqaf Dr Abdul Qayoom Soomro.

According to Edhi volunteers in Sehwan Sharif, two people drowned in Aral Wah while taking a bath, two others died from heatstroke just a day after an equal number of people could not survive the heatwave.

All the six deceased hailed from different parts of Punjab, said head of the Edhi centre in Sehwan Sharif Ghulam Sarwar Shaikh. He added that their bodies were taken to their native towns in Edhi ambulances.

The deceased were identified as Sabir Hussain, 48, resident of Faisalabad; Mohammad Sharif, 80, resident of Cheecha Watani; 70-year-old Faqir Hussain and Mohammad Anwar, 34, both hailing from Bahawalpur; Javed Ahmed, 48, resident of Sahiwal; and Amjad Hussain, 40, resident of Lahore.

Earlier, six devotees of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar died and five others were injured in the Indus Highway accident near Manjhand Town. The deceased were identified as Shahbaz, 34, Ramzan, 30, Ayub, 40, Riyasat, 40, Khizar, 25, and police constable Noor Ahmed, 34. The injured were namely Noor Zaman, Ammar, Aamir and Younis.

According to Jamshoro SSP Tariq Wilayat, all the deceased and the injured were taken to the hospital of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro.

He said that both vehicles involved in the collision were impounded by the police.

Meanwhile, the adviser to the chief minister on Auqaf told the media that he had issued directives to the district administration and the Urs organising committee to provide maximum facilities to the devotees.

He said the message of Qalandar was peace, harmony and love.

Accompanied by Hyderabad commissioner Syed Asif Hyder Shah and Jamshoro deputy commissioner Sohail Adeeb Bachani, the adviser laid floral wreaths and offered Fateha at the shrine.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play