CHAGAI: Six people lost their lives and more than a dozen, including women and children, suffered injuries in separate road accidents and a fire incident in Chagai district.

According to multiple official sou­rces, a pickup carrying ‘illegal’ Afghan immigrants overturned near Bug area of Mashkel, leaving three people dead, including the driver and an infant na­med Arzia Bibi, and injuring 11 others.

Sources said the passengers were en route to Mashkel, a town near the Pakistan-Iran border in Washuk district, with the aim to illegally enter Iran and then head to Europe for a better future.

The bodies and the injured were taken to Prince Fahad Hospital in Dalbandin, from where the injured were referred to a hospital in Quetta after initial medical treatment, a hospital administration official told Dawn.

In another road accident, two people, including the driver of the Iranian-made Zamyad pickup truck, lost their lives when the vehicle hit a bus parked by the roadside on the main RCD highway in Yakmach area of Chagai district, official sources said.

The victims, identified as Sadiqullah and Mohammad Nadir, were also taken to Prince Fahad Hospital and later handed over to their families after medical and legal formalities. Sources said the deceased were smuggling urea and moving towards the Afghan border.

In yet another road mishap, a driver named Saeed Ahmed lost his life when his speeding Zamyad skidded and overturned on the RCD highway near Nokkundi area of Chagai district.

Separately, two men named Fida Mohammad and Jailani Khan suffered burn injuries in an Afghan refugee camp in Girdi Junge area when a gar­age caught fire due to gas welding.

Levies Force officials later put out the fire, which consumed three vehicles besides the garage, official sources said. The injured were also treated at Dalbandin’s Prince Fahad Hospital.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2022