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KARACHI Two children and their maternal aunt were crushed to death by a fast-moving bus when they were crossing a road near Teen Hatti Bridge in the jurisdiction of the PIB Colony police station on Friday.
The tragic incident, which claimed the lives of a 10-year-old boy, a seven-year-old girl and their unmarried teenaged maternal aunt, however, left two other children miraculously unhurt.
After the accident, angry passers-by set the bus on fire, though the driver of the vehicle managed to escape, abandoning the bus and leaving the passengers stranded.
Police and Edhi volunteers removed the bodies of the dead from the spot and shifted them to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
The victims were later identified as 10-year-old Faizan, his eight-year-old sister Saba and their teenaged aunt Haleema Sadia.
Seven-year-old Ayesha and six-year-old Salman, the two siblings who narrowly survived the deadly accident, said it was their aunt who had saved their lives, pushing them towards the other side of the road when she saw the approaching bus.
Unfortunately Ms Sadia was unable to get herself or the other two children to safety before the bus hit them.
'The bus was far away when we were crossing the road,' Ayesha told reporters, who gathered at her home in Ghousia Colony near Lasbela. Unable to recall the exact details of the traumatic incident, her words seemed to imply that the driver was driving recklessly. 'The bus started zigzagging while blowing its horn non-stop, which confused our aunt and all of us. It came very near to us,' she said.
The little girl's words squared with the initial investigation of the area police, who questioned some of the passengers of the bus.
'The bus is registered as 'Muzaffar Coach' with registration number JB-6886,' said Sajjad Hasnain, the SHO of the PIB Colony police station.
'It was an accident caused by rash driving. A few people told us that right from Sohrab Goth, from where the bus entered the city, the driver of the bus was cautioned by several people on the road about his wild driving, but he didn't pay heed.'
He cited an eyewitness, who said a couple of motorcyclists intercepted the bus near Liaquatabad Dakkhana to warn the driver about his dri ving, but he managed to escape their wrath.
Members of the grieving family said the deceased siblings were among 10 children of Umer Khattab, a carpenter by profession.
All four children, including those who survived, were returning from their grandmother's home in Orangi Town with their maternal aunt after staying there for a few days.
'A few minutes after they got off from a bus near Filmistan stop, the accident occurred,' said Abdul Wahid, son-in-law of Umer Khattab and brother-in-law of the deceased children.
Debate over jurisdiction
Officials at the PIB Colony police station said they would register an FIR once members of the aggrieved family, who were in a state of shock, requested them to do so.
A dispute over police jurisdiction in the area, however, added more misery to an already tragic situation.
For more than two hours after the accident, officials from the police stations of PIB Colony, Super Market and Jamshed Quarters argued amongst themselves, each saying that the area of the accident did not fall within their respective jurisdictions.
Police incurred the ire of people in the area, who first chanted slogans against the police and then pelted their mobiles with stones. This in turn caused the police to baton charge the protesters.
The traffic on surrounding roads, meanwhile, remained closed for more than two hours before the PIB Colony police station was finally found responsible for the area.
However, the authorities denied any such dispute among the police stations.
'Under SOP (standard operating procedure) where there are fears of a law and order situation developing, we always call police officers from other nearby police stations,' said DSP Ghulam Hussain Korai, the area's supervisory police officer (SPO).
'That was the only reason that you would have seen the strength of the three police stations there. Otherwise there was no such dispute.'
The police finally registered a case (FIR 127/09) under Section 320 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the children's father, Umer Khattab.
