• No survivors after minibus with 25 onboard plunges into ravine in Kahuta
• 11 pilgrims en route to Lahore from Gwadar die after bus overturns, falls into gorge; at least 35 injured
• Officials say accidents occurred due to ‘speeding’, ‘technical fault’

GUJAR KHAN/QUETTA: At least 36 people lost their lives and over 35 others sustained injuries in two major road accidents in Kahuta and Lasbela on Sunday after the drivers of the respective buses lost control of their vehicles and plunged into roadside ravines.

In an early morning accident, a bus with 25 passengers onboard was en route to Pallandri, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, when it met with accident near the Garari Bridge on Azad Pattan Road in Kahuta, a tehsil of Rawalpindi. Out of the total number of passengers, 24 died on the spot whereas the lone survivor succumbed to injuries while being shifted to a Rawalpindi hospital. The rescue teams transported 23 bodies and an injured person to the Kahuta tehsil headquarters hospital (THQ) while the dead body of the driver’s helper was taken to Azad Kashmir from the accident site.

Sudhanoti Deputy Commi­ssioner Omar Farooq, while speaking to Dawn at the THQ in Kahuta, said the accident occurred at 9:30am when the Pallandri-bound vehicle veered off the road and plunged into a ravine. The deputy commissioner claimed that the accident was caused by overspeeding and brake failure.

Kahuta THQ Medical Superi­ntendent Dr Samina Khan Bhatty said all the victims had been identified and about 18 dead bodies were dispatched to the native areas by Sunday evening. She said the deceased belonged to Pallandri, Kotli, Kahuta, Kallar Syedan, Rawalpindi, and Abbottabad.

Kahuta Assistant Commissioner

Ayesha Zafar told Dawn that the death toll could have been low had the crash barriers along the highway been constructed with good quality material. The police officials from AJK also pointed out the poor quality of the crash barriers.

AC Zafar and MS Dr Bhatty were apparently the only focal persons managing the arrival and dispatching of bodies, maintaining records, and dealing with the heirs, media persons, and the police. The Rawalpindi district administration officials were not visible at the hospital till the filing of this report at 6:00 pm. The Rawalpindi CPO reportedly visited the accident site but returned without visiting the THQ hospital.

‘Technical fault’

Chief Traffic Officer Beenish Fatima and City Police Officer Syed Khalid Hamdani visited the accident site and said that the accident occurred due to a “technical fault in the coaster and its inappropriate speed”. Police have also decided to track the trip duration of public transport vehicles on highways to avert such accidents.

A spokesman for the police said that according to initial information, the accident happened due to a technical fault in the vehicle and overspeeding. CPO Hamdani said the accident site was on the Kahuta-Pallandri road, adding the highway was under construction at various spots.

11 pilgrims killed

Separately, a Lahore-bound bus in which almost 50 pilgrims — who had to turn back from the Iran border due to incomplete documentation — were travelling overturned on coastal highway and plunged into a ravine from Buzi top. A senior official posted at the border said the bus was not allowed to enter Iran via Gabad crossing point in Gwadar last night due to incomplete documentation and left for Lahore in the early hours of Sunday via the coastal highway.

The officials said the driver lost control of the vehicle at Buzi Pass in the mountainous area, leading to the accident that instantly killed 11 people and injured almost 35. Abid Ali, a rescue official, said most deaths occurred due to passengers being crushed under the vehicle, adding that the rescuers faced difficulties in retrieving the bodies. The bodies and the injured were shifted to the Uthal and Hub hospitals.

“Eleven pilgrims lost their lives in the fatal accident and 35 were injured,” Lasbela SSP Naveed Alam said, adding that 20 injured were brought to the district hospital in Uthal while others were sent to Jam Ghulam Qadir Memorial Hospital in Hub.

The police officer said the victims belonged to Gujranwala, Multan, and Khaniwal. Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind said 10 critically injured pilgrims were initially shifted to the Uthal hospital and later transferred to Karachi. The other 26 injured individuals were referred to Jam Ghulam Qadir Hospital in Hub. He added that a crane was being used to lift the bus, and there was a possibility that one or two people could still be trapped underneath the vehicle.

Behram Baloch in Gwadar and Abdul Wahid Shahwani in Khuzdar contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2024