KARACHI: Four people, including a minor boy, were killed in traffic accidents mostly involving heavy vehicles in different parts of the metropolis on Friday, police said.

A journalist, who moonlighted as a Bykea rider to meet his expenses, his pillion rider and a 10-year-old boy were killed in two incidents.

The fourth person was killed and his friend was injured when a water tanker hit them on University Road near Sunday Bazaar. After the incident, enraged people set the water tanker on fire. However, the reckless driver managed to escape from the spot, said Aziz Bhatti SHO Saeed Ahmed Dharejo.

He said that the victims were on their way towards Safoora Goth on a bike when the tanker hit them from behind.

Enraged people set water tanker on fire in Gulshan

The impact was so powerful that one person namely Haris Saleem, 28, was killed on the spot while Ahmed, 18, was injured. The dead and the injured were taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).

The truck was destroyed by the mob before arrival of firemen, said a Rescue-1122 official. The incident occurred at around 3:30pm.

In another incident, a 10-year-old boy was killed in Baldia Town.

Ittehad Town SHO Javed Akhtar said that a recklessly driven passenger mini-bus of W-25 route hit and killed passer-by Khadim Husain, 10, in Qaimkhani Colony near Ayesha Masjid.

The bus driver escaped immediately after the incident, leaving behind the vehicle that was impounded by the police.

The officer said the mob gathered there and tried to damage the bus but the police prevented them from doing so.

In the third incident, a journalist, who was moonlighting as a Bykea rider, and his pillion passenger were killed in a hit-and-run accident on Sharea Faisal early on Friday morning.

Tipu Sultan SHO Tariq Mehmood said that the victims were on their way to Saddar when an apparently recklessly driven car hit them from behind.

They suffered critical injuries and were taken to the JPMC where both of them were pronounced dead on arrival.

The victims were identified as Tashkeel Haider Sandelo and the passenger, Saqib Imtiaz.

Sandelo had worked in different media organisations and presently he was associated with a Sindhi language newspaper, according to his friends in the media.

The SHO said they had obtained CCTV footage from the spot to ascertain the possible identity of the car rider.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2025