LAHORE, April 25: A young man was killed when the pieces of a hoarding that came apart due to a windstorm pierced his head here in New Garden Town.

The windstorm ripped through the city on Friday evening.

Zeeshan, 22, employee of an advertising agency and resident of Allama Iqbal Town, was traveling on his motorcycle in the windstorm when the pipe of a blown-up hoarding pierced first his helmet and then his head near Kalma Chowk.

He died without getting any medical aid and his colleague Zubair, who was traveling along him, was injured.

Son of a motorcycle mechanic, Zeeshan was an IT professional.

Officials of the advertising agency said the hoarding was allowed by the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) at the entrance of New Garden Town Road from Kalma Chowk overlooking safety measures.

They said the hoarding’s material was substandard which could not weather a mild windstorm. Under the PHA rules, hoardings should be solid enough to withstand storms up to the velocity of 175km per hour.

They said the hoarding was also placed on a median against the rules.

The city district government authorities had, last year, promised to conduct a survey of all hoardings in the city after storm havocs in Karachi and Lahore.

Friday’s storm followed by a light rain downed many trees and hoardings in the city. Its maximum gust in the city was 53kms per hour and near the airport 83km per hour.

The storm brought down the mercury that was recorded 41 degrees Celsius on Friday as against 40 degrees C on Thursday.

The local Met office related the storm and light rain to the higher temperature and a westerly wave over Kashmir. It said the relief was temporary and the temperatures would rise in the plains of Punjab and other provinces in the next week.

Chief Meteorologist Shaukat Awan said the temperature in the hilly areas was still low that was why the snow melting process was also slow.