SARGODHA: Eight people, including seven students, were killed and five others were critically wounded on Tuesday when a passenger bus collided head-on with a school van near Salam interchange, some 40 kilometres from here.

Students and locals set the passenger bus ablaze in protest in the presence of police.

A Rawalpindi-bound passenger bus collided head-on with a school van going from Miana Gondal towards Bhalwal interchange on Tuesday morning. Van driver Zulfiqar and students Asifa, Anam Zahra, Aman Saeed, Fatima Shuja, Arva Riaz, Anmol and Samina died on the spot, while Sawera Mumtaz, Saima Afzal, Sidra, Zainab and Rida were seriously injured and shifted to DHQ hospital.

The bus driver escaped from the scene. Students alleged that police not only baton-charged them, but also fired in the air to disperse the protesters.

Police claimed that the protesters created a law and order situation and pelted commuters with stones causing damage to vehicles. They also set the passenger bus ablaze, police added.

Meanwhile, the company that owned the passenger bus suspended their services in protest owing to which passengers faced hardships.

Traffic on Gujrat-Bhalwal road near Salam interchange remained suspended for four hours.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2018