KARACHI: Reckless and negligent driving claimed the lives of three people in as many fatal accidents on Saturday, according to police and rescue services officials.
According to a statement from the Karachi Traffic Police, a trailer driver was involved in “negligent and careless driving” when he hit a motorcycle on Mauripur Road, injuring its two passengers.
An Edhi Foundation spokesperson said they were taken to Civil Hospital Karachi, where one of them died.
South Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that, according to the initial probe, the fatal accident was caused by over-speeding, which led the motorcycle to slip and the trailer’s rear wheels to crush the teenage rider.
He said the driver was arrested and the trailer seized by Mauripur police.
In another incident, a motorcyclist was killed when a trailer hit him on the main Super Highway near the Toll Plaza, according to a statement from an Edhi Foundation spokesperson.
Gadap City Station House Officer Sarfraz Jatoi confirmed the incident, adding that the injured motorcyclist was taken to a private hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said 17-year-old victim sustained crush injuries to his skull and face during the Mauripur accident.
She added that the body of the Super Highway accident victim was brought to a hospital in the evening for legal formalities.
In a third incident, DIG Raza said the front left-side tyre of a water tanker burst around 8:15pm near Habib Chowrangi on Star Mill Road in the Site Area. As a result, a motorcyclist, an unidentified man aged around 25 to 30, came under the vehicle’s wheels and was killed on the spot.
The DIG said the body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for completion of legal formalities, and further legal proceedings were under way in accordance with the law.
The latest deaths come against the backdrop of a worrying increase in fatal road accidents involving heavy vehicles, particularly water tankers and dumpers, across Karachi.
Last week, a young motorcyclist was killed and his pillion rider injured by a trailer truck driver near Bara Board, PAF Gate, in Mauripur.
The week before that, a first-year college student and a 12-year-old boy lost their lives in separate incidents after being hit by water tankers in different parts of the city, triggering renewed concerns over reckless driving, poor enforcement of traffic laws and the unchecked movement of heavy vehicles in densely populated areas.
Last month, angered citizens also set a dumper truck on fire in Karachi after it met with an accident, resulting in the death of a man. His wife was injured in the incident.
