HARIPUR, Jan 21: At least 78 passengers, including 13 women and four children, were killed and 211 injured in road accidents at different places in Haripur during 2005, according to a local NGO.
Most of the deaths were caused by violation of traffic rules, dilapidated roads and unfit vehicles, said media officer Arshad Mehmood of the Human Development Organization while briefing local reporters.
He said that from January to December 2005, 79 traffic accidents had been reported in Haripur, claiming 78 lives. The dead included 61 men, 13 women and four children while 179 men, 26 women and six children were injured.
Quoting from the details of traffic accidents his organization compiled during 2005, Mr Mehmood said two women had been killed and seven others injured when a pick-up had been hit by a Havelian-bound train near Shah Maqsood. Two vans coming in the opposite direction had collided near village Kholian, killing six people and injuring 32.
Another speeding Taxila-bound passenger bus fell from a bridge near Hattar, killing three passengers on the spot while a Haripur-bound bus coming from Taxila skidded off the road and fell into a deep ravine near Mang, leaving two passengers dead and eight injured.
POISONOUS FOOD: A woman was killed and her niece was hospitalized after taking contaminated food in Hall Jadaal village, some 41 kilometres from Haripur on Friday.
Khalabat Township police said that Ms Dilshad, wife of Tasleem Ahmed, and her niece, Saima, wife of Abdul Aziz, had dined at the house of Ms Dilshad’s father, Malik Noor Mohammad.
The police and family sources said that the two women fell unconscious after taking the food. They were taken to the DHQ hospital, where Ms Dilshad was pronounced dead. Ms Saima was referred to the Ayub Medical Complex, where she was stated to be in stable condition.
The relatives of the women did not lodge an FIR against any one as, according to police, they believed that the cause of the death was food poisoning.
