MIANWALI; Four persons, including two infants, were killed and eight others seriously injured in a head-on collusion between two cars at Jinanwala Pul on a road constructed as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) near Kaloor Sharif village in Isakhel Tehsil on Tuesday.

The 94km-long road linking Dera Ismail Khan with Rawalpindi is yet not opened for traffic officially, but many motorists use it to save travel time between the two cities.

As per Rescue 1122 officials, a car going from Tarikhel (Mianwali) to Isakhel, carrying Prof Mohammad Riaz and his family members, collided head-on with another coming from DI Khan, in which a family from Quetta was travelling.

As a result, Prof Riaz Khan, Naseem Bi Bi, six-month-old Zunair, son of Junaid and five-month-old Abdul Hadi, son of Shakeel Khan, died on the spot. Meanwhile, eight other passengers in both cars were seriously injured.

Rescue 1122 teams from Isakhel, on being informed of the incident, rushed to the spot and shifted the injured persons and the four dead bodies to the Kalabagh Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, from where one of the injured was referred to a Rawalpindi hospital given his critical condition.

The injured included Madeeha Bibi, Hassan, Amir and his daughter Zarmina (belonging to Queta) and Sameera Bibi her husband Shakil Khan, Shagufta ( mother of baby Junaid) (from Tarrikhel).

The CPEC route passing through Mianwali district is still not officially operational, but many motorists and passenger vans from DI Khan, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Isakhel, Kalabagh and Daudkhel use it to save time. Some portions of the one-way road are still under construction, while police checkpoints and toll plazas on it have also not been made functional yet, resulting in traffic accidents.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2021