MALAKAND: Sixteen members of a family, including women and children, were killed and nine others injured when a mini-truck they were travelling in overturned after colliding with an electric pole near Tunnel 3 on the Swat Motorway here on Thursday.

According to an FIR filed by Motorway patrolling inspector Muhammad Rashad at the Levies post in Palai, the accident occurred when a Mazda truck (LWN-4463), travelling from Gabral, Swat, to Faisalabad, Punjab, overturned after hitting a pole.

Rescue teams along with ambulances reached the spot soon after the incident and shifted the bodies and the injured to the district headquarters hospital Batkhela.

The bodies were handed over to their relatives after legal formalities and sent to their native village of Gabral in Swat. Six of the injured, who were stated to be in critical condition, were referred to Swat.

Malakand Levies have registered a case against the driver, Mohammad Ikram, hailing from Faisalabad and detained him at the hospital.

According to the relatives present at the hospital, the family was relocating from Gabral, Swat, to Faisalabad along with their livestock due to seasonal changes.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2025