LAHORE: Police lodged a case against the driver of the overloaded truck, which had overturned on an autorickshaw late on Sunday, leaving four members of a family dead, outside the MAO College.

The two minor children who were also traveling in the same three-wheeler, however, survived.

The tragic incident had moved many passers-by to tears when they saw the parents had covered the kids in order to save their lives.

The victims were identified as 67-year-old Shafiq, his 60-year-old wife Shabana, their 35-year-old son Sajid and 32-year-old daughter-in-law Iqra. The family was returning from the house of a relative after having dinner.

The truck driver is still at large and the police are trying to trace him in the case lodged against him for reckless driving.

The eyewitnesses told the media that the truck was massively overloaded with soft drink bottles and it overturned and fell on the rickshaw while taking a sharp U-turn on the main road. They declared the incident the result of criminal negligence of the truck driver.

Talking about the heartless behaviour of some locals and the passers-by, a passer-by said the people began to loot the soft drink bottles rather than helping or rescuing the ill-fated family.

Some video clips of this inhuman act of the people also went viral on social media.

The bodies of the deceased were shifted to Mayo Hospital for medico-legal procedure, while the two children who survived were handed over to the relatives of the victim family. Further investigations were underway.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2025