LARKANA: The Sindh High Court’s Larkana circuit bench comprising Justice Zaffar Ahmed Rajput and Justice Muhammed Humayoon Khan on Thursday adjourned the hearing of the Agro bridge portion collapse case till Oct 6 after the deputy commissioner, SSP and irrigation officials of Dadu personally appeared before it and explained their position.

The court had taken suo motu notice of the incident in which a tonga carrying a woman and her three children plunged into Dadu Canal while crossing it when a wide middle portion of the bridge’s road suddenly caved in on Monday.

The woman and her two small children were rescued by divers but her three-year-old daughter drowned and a 65-year-old man seriously injured in the incident died a few hours later.

DC Shahzaman Khuhro informed the bench that he was not aware of the incident.

SSP Ghulam Shabir Sethar stated in his report that since no one turned up to lodge an FIR of the incident, the area police did not initiate an investigation into the road collapse.

On their part, sub-divisional officers Lutufullah Buriro and Ghulam Rasool Soomro of the irrigation department informed the bench that the bridge was built and maintained by the highways department and not by their department.

The bench asked the SSP to register an FIR against the suspects responsible for the incident and submit a report by the next date of hearing.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2016