MANSEHRA: Five people were killed and four others injured when a Rawalpindi-bound passenger coach overturned on the Hazara Expressway near the Kalgan Mor area here on Tuesday.

Amir Khadam, a Rescue 1122 official, told reporters that the coach, carrying passengers from Gilgit to Rawalpindi, was speeding when the driver lost control of the steering, causing it to overturn near the Kalgan Mor area.

He said that rescue personnel along with ambulances rushed to the scene and shifted the injured to the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital, where doctors pronounced Shafqat Ahmad, Mehnat Amarjan, Abdullah Qutab Khan and Mohammad Farooq, all residents of Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan, and Altaf Ghazi of Balakot, dead.

The four injured were referred to Ayub Medical Complex Hospital, Abbottabad, where condition of two of them was reported to be critical. Mr Khadam said that the accident rate on the Mansehra-Thakot section of the Hazara Expressway was high as motorists often sped despite the sharp curves and narrow lanes.

“Drivers should be more cautious while driving on the Mansehra-Thakot section of the expressway, where the road narrows down,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2024