NAROWAL: Seven schoolchildren and a rickshaw driver were killed on Friday when a loaded dumper turned turtle and fell on a passing-by motorcycle rickshaw in Zafarwal.

Another six children were being treated for their life-threatening injuries at the Narowal District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital. The deceased and injured children were from Mararha Sharif, a suburb of Zafarwal.

The motorcycle rickshaw, carrying 14 students, struck the tragedy near Darman Chowk on Zafarwal-Shakaghar Road where the dumper filled with gravel fell on it. Soon the police, relief teams of Rescue 1122 and a number of locals gathered at the accident scene. Relief teams rescued six injured students with the help of locals and shifted them to the Zafarwal Rural Health Centre (RHC).

Rescue 1122 and traffic police arranged excavators on emergency grounds and removed the loads of gravel and the dumper and retrieved the bodies of driver Mudassar (23), Yaseen (nine), Muhammad Ahmad (six), Nisha (14), Kinda (17), Ahmad Ali, Farhan and Aiman. The injured included Sawera, Aleeza, Aqsa, Jawairia, Abdul Hanan and Muhammad Ashir.

Muhammad Anwar Khan and Noor Muhammad witnessed the accident.

“The cause of the accident is the broken, pothole-infested Zafarwal-Shakarghar Road,” Anwar said.

“The dumper was loaded and it turned turtle due to ditches at the the accident site.”

Locals said that when Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar visited Zafarwal, they demanded the construction of the road and Mr Buzdar announced construction of the road but did not allocate or release funds for this purpose.

Narowal District Emergency Officer Adnan Nawaz said: “Injured students and bodies were rushed to the Zafarwal RHC where from the injured students were shifted to the DHQ Hospital. On the demand of the locals gathered there, Rescue 1122 shifted the bodies to homes.”

Deputy Superintendent of Traffic Police Khalid Qureshi said the dumper and the gravel loads had been removed from the road by excavators and the road was opened for traffic.

Chief Executive Officer of the District Health Authority Dr Muhammad Latif Sahi said: “The students injured in the accident were first aided at the RHC and then rushed to the Narowal DHQ Hospital where they were being treated by senior doctors.”

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2019