NAROWAL: Rescue 1122 District Emergency Officer (DEO) Engineer Mohammad Naeem Akhtar was killed by a speeding car while commanding a rescue operation on Shakargarh Road on Monday.

The incident occurred near Kaki Mor, where multiple vehicles had collided due to low visibility caused by smoke from burning wheat crop stubbles in adjacent fields.

According to Rescue 1122, the control room received a call about a collision between a motorcycle-rickshaw and a van at Kaki Mor on Shakargarh Road. A rescue team was immediately dispatched and upon reaching the site, found that farmers had set fire to the wheat crop remnants, resulting in a dense smoke blanketing the road.

Due to low visibility, several vehicles crashed into one another.

Rescue 1122 rushed additional ambulances to the scene. Engineer Akhtar also arrived to oversee the rescue operation for the injured. While he was commanding the efforts, a speeding car coming from the Shakargarh side struck him severely. He was shifted to Narowal District Headquarters Hospital where he was received dead.

Akhtar had been serving as Narowal DEO for the past three years. A resident of Rahmat Colony of Narowal, he leaves behind a two-year-old daughter, his widow and his parents.

He was laid to rest with official Rescue protocol at the ancestral cemetery following a well-attended funeral prayers.

Among the mourners were Rescue 1122 Secretary Dr Rizwan Naseer, Regency Emergency Officer Fawad Shahzad, Rescue Administrator Abid Kamal, Sialkot DEO Engineer Naveed Iqbal, rescue personnel, and a large number of citizens.

In the chain of accidents caused by the smoke, other than the rescue officer, 40-year-old Parveen Bibi was killed, while 13 others sustained injuries. They were shifted to the DHQ Hospital.

The pile-up accident raises the failure of the Narowal district administration to prevent the burning of wheat crop residues. Farmers in Shakargarh, Zafarwal and Narowal tehsils have been burning crop remains, generating thick smoke that severely affects visibility on roads and contributes to worsening air pollution.

Residents like Manan and Mohammad Asif said the wheat harvest initially caused dust allergies, and now the deliberate burning of remnants is exposing citizens to severe respiratory and lung diseases.

Social media has seen a wave of public appeals over the past week, urging authorities to intervene, yet no concrete action was taken.

Citizens have now demanded urgent intervention from Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to address the crop burning.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2025