RAHIM YAR KHAN: A speeding luxury jeep, while overtaking a car in an arranged race, ran over two motorcyclists and injured four others before landing in a canal near Abbasia Town here on Monday.

The jeep driver also died, bringing death toll to three. The racing vehicles were owned by a construction contractor and their drivers planned the race.

According to a Rescue 1122 press release, the jeep overtook the car from the wrong side and later on hit two motorcycles and fell into Nowshehra Minor canal.

The rash driving claimed the lives of jeep driver Iftikhar, 20, and two unidentified people, one man and one girl, while Faiz Bukhsh, 45, Rimsha, 20, Irshad Bibi, 40, and an unidentified minor were injured.

Rescue 1122 personnel shifted the injured to the Shaikh Zayed Medical College Hospital (SZMCH), where of them, two were in a critical condition.

According to a CCTV footage, the jeep driver overtook the car from the left side and hit two motorcycles which were riding six people in all, before falling into the canal.

The jeep and the car were owned by contractor Bilal Younus. Both the car driver and the jeep driver were employed with Bilal Younus.

Police sources told this correspondent that they arrested the car driver who told them deceased driver Iftikhar and he planned the race early in the morning when they were washing their vehicles. Both were to begin the race on bypass but they started the race on the busiest road of the city which resulted in the loss of three lives.

Published in Dawn, April 09th, 2019