DADU, July 12: Four passengers were killed and 20 others were injured when a Dadu-bound coach collided with a truck on the Indus Highway, near the mausoleum of Lakki Shah Saddar, on Monday.

A passenger coach, coming from Hyderabad, was travelling to Dadu when the driver lost control of the vehicle and hit a truck parked on the highway close to the mausoleum. Four passengers - Malookan Panhwar, 35, Haseena Panhwar, 12, residents of the Mehar town; Abdul Majeed Khakhrani, 40, resident of Shikarpur; and an unidentified victim, aged 40 years - died on the spot.

Twenty others, injured in the accident, were admitted to the Sehwan Taluka Hospital where the condition of 17 passengers - Zubair, Ali Khan, Shahnawaz, Gada Hussain, Naeem, Imtiaz, Mohammad Yousuf, Mohammad Hassan, Dhani Bakhsh, Amir Bur, Andaruddin, Shahan, Zafar, Anwar Begum, Sapna, Younus and Naseer - was said to be serious.

Later, two of the injured - Anwar and Naseer - were shifted to the Hyderabad Civil Hospital because of their critical condition. Bodies of the deceased travellers were taken to their native towns by Edhi volunteers.

POLICEMEN SUSPENDED: District Police Officer of Dadu Jawaid Akhtar had suspended ASI Ali Khan Soomro and Head Constable Muhammad Hayat Bhatti after they paid a surprise visit to the judicial lock-up in Khairpur Nathan Shah reports APP. The DPO also ordered forfeiture of two years' service of four constables for dereliction of duty as they were found sleeping at the time.