A collision between a car and a trailer on Monday claimed six lives on the National Highway in Sindh’s Naushahro Feroze District, officials said.

Naushahro Feroze Senior Superintendent of Police Mir Rohal Khoso told Dawn that all six people who died were travelling in the car, while the trailer’s driver was injured.

He said the accident took place between 5am and 6am, adding that “ostensibly, speeding and brake failure were probable reasons,” but the matter was being probed further.

SSP Khoso elaborated that one side of the National Highway in the district was under construction, which was a “contributory factor behind increasing accidents”.

He stated that, in collaboration with the motorway police, it has been decided to set up five points for checking the speed and fitness of vehicles to control the rise in accidents.

Sindh Inspector General (IG) Javed Alam Odho, in a statement, ordered the Naushahro Feroze SSP to probe the accident and register a case.

Expressing his grief over the loss of lives, IG Odho ordered that legal action be taken against those responsible after determining the causes behind the accident.

Fatal road accidents on highways occur frequently in Pakistan, with the main reasons including speeding, hazardous overtaking, and disregard for traffic rules.

On Sunday, at least 11 people were killed and eight were injured after a bus collided with a trailer on the National Highway near Tando Masti in Sindh’s Khairpur district.

A day before that, 13 people died in a traffic accident involving an oil tanker and a passenger bus on the M9 Motorway near Karachi.

Crackdown against overloading and speeding ordered

In his statement, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah expressed his grief over the loss of lives in the accident and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.

“We share the grief of the bereaved families,” he was quoted as saying in the statement issued by his spokesperson, Abdul Rasheed Channa.

The statement said that the car involved in the incident was heading from Larkana Division’s Nasirabad taluka to Karachi.

CM Murad also issued directives for the strict implementation of traffic rules and regulations.

He ordered the Sindh IG to carry out a “crackdown against overloading and speeding”. He further directed that monitoring and fitness checks of vehicles be made more stringent across the province.

“The protection of the public’s life and property is the government’s top responsibility,” the chief minister noted.