TAXILA: Five people, including two children, were killed and 10 others injured in a traffic accident on Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M-1) near Burhan Interchange on Wednesday night.

According to the police, the deceased and injured were natives of Allai town of Battagram.

District Emergency Officer Dr Mohammad Ishfaq said the van was carrying 19 people from Islamabad International Airport (IIA) to Battagram when it overturned after one of its left tyres burst.

Seven of the injured were stated to be in a critical condition. The dead included a man, his wife and a child. They were identified as Jawad Gul, Gul Khaista, Zafarsa, Kakai Bibi and Ruwaid Khan.

Mohammad Zubair, an eyewitness, said the van was speeding and had just overtaken him.

“Moments later I saw the vehicle toppling like a ball. The passengers were trapped in the vehicle.”

He said commuters stopped and tried to retrieve the injured and bodies before the arrival of the motorway police.

An official of the motorway police said the cause of the accident was tyre burst.

The injured were shifted to different hospitals, including the district headquarters hospital Attock and the tehsil headquarters hospital Hassanabdal.

The medical superintendent of the THQ hospital Dr Asad said the victims were returning home after seeing off their relatives at the IIA who left for Umrah.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2018