HYDERABAD, March 14: Four labourers were killed and 15 injured when a truck carrying them and their belonging overturned on the National Highway near Hala late Tuesday night.

The truck had been hired by a group of traders who sell different items at Sufi shrines across Sindh during annual Urs celebrations, called Mela (festival) due to the festive atmosphere prevailing there. The truck, carrying items sold at different stalls and workers who run the make-shift shops, was going to such a festival in Rehmani Nagar (original name Sita Nagar) from Bhit Shah where the Urs of saint-poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai has just concluded.

The speedy truck overturned as the driver lost control over its steering. As a result, Ramzan, Abdullah, Mohammad Panah, and Lal Bux, all residents of Larkana, died on the spot and 15 others were injured.

Those injured were taken to Hala Taluka Hospital where emergency was declared. Later, 12 of the injured were referred to Hyderabad Civil Hospital because the taluka hospital lacks facilities to treat seriously wounded people.

The bodies of the deceased were handed over to their relatives on Wednesday. The police have impounded the truck and arrested a transporter, Aijaz, who had booked the truck for the traders’ group, as the driver had escaped after the accident, leaving the vehicle behind.