HYDERABAD: A pall of gloom descended on a Latifabad locality when bodies of van fire victims were brought there for burial on Wednesday.

Emotional scenes were witnessed as grieving relatives mourned over deaths of their loved ones.

The bodies of nine victims were brought from Karachi on Edhi ambulances after identification and taken to Hussainabad and Latifabad units 5, 11 and 12.

The bodies of Asad, his wife Shahzadi, their daughters Rukhsar, Sumaira and maternal granddaughter Umme Habiba which were taken to unit-5 of Latifabad, and those of Nasir Khan, his son Mohammad Hassan and his brother’s wife Ms Qamar Bano and Humaira, wife of Irfan Shaikh, were brought to unit-11 of Latifabad.

Sixteen people, in all, had died in the tragedy on Sept 26 on the Karachi-Hyderabad motorway when the van overturned after having been hit by splintered bonnet of a car which ripped off and hit the van. The van later caught fire. Of the 16, 13 hailed from Hyderabad and three from Karachi.

The Sindh government has not yet announced any compensation for the victims’ heirs. It was, however, learnt that district administration is recommending Rs500,000 for each deceased and Rs300,000 for each injured. The recommendation has not yet been sent to Sindh government and is in process.

Published in Dawn, October 1st , 2020