SUKKUR: Four passengers died and about a dozen others were injured when a Karachi-bound bus overturned and caught fire near Mirpur Mathelo town of Ghotki district late on Monday night.

According to surviving passengers, the driver dozed off and lost control of his speeding vehicle while passing through a section of the Sukkur-Multan (M-5) Motorway near the town. The bus first skidded into a roadside ditch, overturned and then caught fire, they said.

The SHO and other policemen from the Belo Mirpur police station rushed to the site and undertook rescue work along with local residents. However, three of the passengers — Ms Khandana, wife of Adam Khan, Ms Amar Gul Bibi, wife of Rasool Khan, and a nine-month-old baby girl, Aleena, daughter of Ramzan Pathan — were found dead when they were taken out of the bus. A youth, Farhan Ali, son of Ali Bakhsh, later succumbed to his injuries during treatment at the Mirpur Mathelo District Headquarters Hospital, where about 10 other passengers were also provided emergency medical assistance. Some of the critically injured victims were referred to the Shaikh Zayed Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan.

There were a total of 63 men, women and children on board when the bus had the accident, the police said.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2019