RAWALPINDI: Two teenagers were killed and another critically injured after their car crashed into a concrete pillar of the elevated metro bus track near Shamsabad on Eid day.

Two of the boys – Hassan Akhtar and Bilal Shah – died on the spot, while the third, Khyzir Hayat, was moved to Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH). Due to the unavailability of an incubator, he was then shifted to the Holy Family Hospital, where he was described as being out of danger.

Mr Hayat, 16, Shah, 18, and Akhtar, 16, were heading towards Faizanabad on Saturday morning in a Suzuki VRX that collided with the metro bus track pillar due to a burst tyre.

Police said Akhtar, a ninth grade student living in Asghar Mall, was driving at the time. Feroozabad resident Shah was sitting on his left while Mr Hayat, a tenth grade student, was sitting in the backseat.

The investigating police officer said Akhtar owned the car but did not possess a driver’s licence. He said the boys were driving to Islamabad when one of the car’s tyres burst, causing the accident.

He said neither of the victims’ families were willing to lodge an FIR or proceed in the case.

Eyewitnesses and the police said the car descended from the 6th Road flyover in high speed before hitting the pillar. A few vehicles on Murree Road stopped when the car crashed into the pillar and people from nearby areas attempted to pull the victims out of the vehicle.

Separately, the bodies of two people were swept away in drains during Friday’s rainfall and were recovered on Monday by divers from Rescue 1122.

Divers were still trying to recover the bodies of three children of a family who were swept away in a nullah in Dhoke Khaba during the Friday rain.

Rehan Masih, 13, drowned in the nullah in Street 2, Dhoke Banaras, on Friday. His body was recovered from Raja Akram Colony.

Noman Farid, 19, drowned in People’s Colony and his body was recovered from Dhoke Lal Shah.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2018