FAISALABAD: Six people, including three children, were burnt alive and ten others sustained burns when a passenger van caught fire on the M-4 motorway near Chak-62, Chananke, on Monday.

The Rescue 1122 emergency services officials said the van was on its way to Gojra from Faisalabad when it caught fire apparently because of overheating of engine.

They said because of the fire, the driver got panicked and lost control over the steering of the vehicle that hit the iron fence along the road.

As a result, the passengers got trapped inside the burning vehicle, they added.

On being informed of the incident, a Rescue 1122 team reached the spot after half-an-hour after covering a long distance.

The Rescuers had to use cutters to retrieve the charred bodies and injured persons from the burnt frame of the van.

Those who died were identified as Ibtasam (6), Bilal (22), Imran (45), Khalida Bibi (32), Kaif Idrees (9), and her seven-year-old sister Abiha Idrees. The bodies were handed over to Sandal Bar police, they said.

The injured have been identified as Abdul Quyoom, 22, Kashaf Idrees, 10, Mateehur Rehman, 13, Majeebur Rehman,12, Samia Sadeeq, 13, her sister Sadia Sadiq, 14, Faqiha Sufyan, 7, her mother Saba Sufyan, 32, Seerat, 30, and a 50-year-old man Abdur Rasheed.

The injured were shifted to the Allied Hospital where three of them were said to be in a critical condition, the Rescue 1122 officials said.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2020