FAISALABAD, Feb 24: Seven passengers were killed while 25 others sustained injuries, three of them serious, on Thursday when a speeding bus overturned at Chak 108-JB near Chak Jhumra, some 27kms from here.

The bus (FDC-833), going to Faisalabad from Chak Jhumra town, overturned due to reckless driving. Five people died instantly and two expired on their way to hospital while 25 others sustained serious injuries. Those died were identified as Jamal Noor, Rashid, Sarwar, Abdul Rasheed, Haneef and Faryad of Chak 108-JB and conductor Basharat Ali.

While the injured were identified as Zeeshan, Sarfraz, Zafar Iqbal, Shaukat, Liaquat, Tahir, Shahbaz, Muhammad Riaz, Shahid Hafeez, Dilawar, Maqsood, Abid Ikram, Nadeem, Rafi, Azam Farooq, Shamshad, Asif Khursheed, Abdul Sattar, Muhammad Nadeem, Naeem Iqbal, Khaleel Mukhtar, Ijaz Amin, Muhammad Jameel, Shazia Parveen and Nazia Amin.

Meanwhile, two persons - Shamshad and Ashfaq Ali - died instantly while their three family members sustained serious injuries when their car hit a stationary tractor-trolley near Gatwala on Faisalabad-Sheikhu-pura Road on Wednesday night.

POLICE CLAIM: Police claimed on Thursday to have busted 52 gangs of criminals in a two-month campaign launched in Faisalabad, Jhang and Toba Tek Singh districts. Talking to newsmen, the DIG said instructions had been issued to district police officers for the arrest of proclaimed offenders and criminals.