Two motorcyclists were killed and another was critically injured on Thursday in accidents involving heavy vehicles at Karachi’s Sharea Faisal and National Highway, respectively, according to police and rescue officials.
Rules restricting the movement of heavy vehicles were recently implemented in the metropolis amid rising traffic accidents involving dumpers and tankers, and protests over the deaths of citizens.
Earlier this month, the provincial government banned the entry of heavy vehicles into the city during the daytime, only allowing them to operate from 11pm to 6am. Exemptions, however, were granted to trucks carrying water, petroleum products, medicines, meat and other essential goods.
Last week, the Sindh government made it mandatory for all heavy vehicles in Karachi to have a physical fitness certificate amid the rising number of traffic accidents involving dumper trucks.
In the first incident today, a young man was killed while his relative was injured when the duo met with an accident involving a 22-wheeler trailer on Malir Bridge near Anwar Baloch Hotel, Shah Latif Town Station House Officer (SHO) Raja Abbas told Dawn.com.
He said the victims were coming from Saddar on their motorcycles when the accident took place at 1:30am.
“They were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) where Mohammed Amir, 35, succumbed to his wounds during treatment, while his brother-in-law Sajid, 28, was admitted for treatment,” he said.
The driver and conductor have been detained and the heavy vehicle has been impounded, SHO Abbas added. He said a probable cause of the accident was that two heavy vehicles were plying on the bridge when the motorcycle riders attempted to manoeuver in between them, resulting in the accident.
Police have registered a first information report (FIR) against the driver on the complaint of the victim’s brother Kaleemuddin under Pakistan Penal Code sections 320 (punishment for qatl-i-khata [murder by mistake] by rash or negligent driving), 379 (punishment for theft) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees).
In the second incident, a 19-year-old Bykea rider was killed on Sharea Faisal when a dumper hit him from behind. The incident occurred at around 2am near the National Highway Authority office, according to Sharea Faisal SHO Faisal Gul Khawaja.
“The injured was taken to JPMC where he succumbed to his wounds during treatment,” SHO Khawaja said, adding that the bike rider was overspeeding. His relatives could not be traced immediately.
12 injured in bus-dumper accident
In yet another incident, 12 passengers were injured when their bus collided with a dumper at the Moach Goth bridge at 9:27am.
Saeedabad SHO Idris Bangash said, “The bus driver was coming from the wrong direction when it hit the dumper. The injured were shifted to Civil Hospital Karachi, with one of them stated to be in critical condition.”
The bus driver managed to escape from the site of the incident.
An alarming increase was registered in road accidents in Karachi as nearly 500 people were killed while 4,879 were injured in 2024 due to a host of reasons ranging from reckless driving to construction activities, etc, according to hospital data.
