UPPER DIR: Three passengers were killed and four others injured when a vehicle fell into a ravine in Wari tehsil of Upper Dir district on Monday, police said.

They said a non-custom-paid pickup was carrying passengers to Wari from Nehag Darra, but when it reached Gorrai village the driver lost control over the steering and, as a result, the vehicle fell into a ravine.

Three passengers were killed on the spot, who were identified as Said Nawab, the driver, Qader Meena and Ali Bahadar.

Four other passengers were injured in the incident who were identified as Rahmatullah, Meem Shad Begum, Hujatullah, while the name of the fourth one could not be ascertained.

The local people said the accident occurred due to the dilapidated condition of the Nehag Darra road.

They said they had demanded of the authorities time and again to repair the road, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, relatives of an injured person demonstrated outside the district headquarters hospital, Upper Dir, to protest absence of the ambulance and its driver from the hospital’s emergency to take the critically injured person to a hospital in Timergara.

The protesters alleged they waited for more than one hour for the ambulance driver to arrive at the emergency, but he didn’t, compelling them to protest.

When contacted, Dr Junaid, who was at the emergency, said he had examined the patient carefully who had suffered head injuries.

He said due to non-availability of CT scan machine in the hospital, he had referred the patient to Timergara. He admitted the patient was lying in the emergency ward for want of ambulance.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2018