BAHAWALPUR: A teenager was killed and another was injured when they were hit by the speeding Karakoram Express at the Qutabpur railway station, where they were sitting on the track while using their phones with hands-free, on Wednesday.

Rescue 1122 said that the deceased was identified as Hamza (16) while his companion Saim (14) suffered serious injuries.

The dead body and the injured were shifted to the Lodhran DHQ Hospital.

In another accident, Hasilpur Rescue 1122 reported that motorcycle rickshaw driver Muhammad Gulzar (50) was killed when his overloaded rickshaw overturned due to unknown reasons near the Katchery. His body had been shifted to Hasilpur THQ Hospital.

ILLEGAL SALE OF MEDICINE: The Lodhran anti-corruption establishment (ACE) has arrested two more gang members in the case of illegal sale of government medicines and claimed to have recovered medicines worth hundreds of thousands of rupees from their possession.

It is pertinent to mention that 14 suspects, including the head of district health authority (DHA), had been booked in the case and three arrests were made earlier on Monday. The two arrested suspects included Minhas and Adnan Saeed.

Meanwhile, Lodhran DHA chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Farhan Sameeja had been suspended by the Punjab Health department and was directed to report to Lahore.

IMPERSONATOR CAUGHT: The Bahawalpur Civil Lines police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested a man for impersonating a DSP.

According to a police spokesperson, the man identified as Shair Wali, a resident of One-Unit Colony in Bahawalpur was impersonating DSP Ghazi Iqbal and was allegedly extorting thousands of rupees from a number of people, including one Ghulam Akbar.

The Civil Lines police, on the complaint of Ghulam Akbar, registered a case and claimed to have arrested the fake DSP red-handed.

DRUG PEDDLER HELD: The Kahror Pacca City police in Lodhran district claimed to have arrested alleged drug peddler Waseem Baloch and recovered over one kilogram of ice heroin from his possession. Besides, police arrested nine alleged gamblers and recovered thousands of rupees of bet money from their possession.

X-RAY MACHINE: The X-ray machine of the Gagoo Mandi Maryam Nawaz Hospital in Vehari district has reported to have been non-functional for over a year.

According to the affectees, due to this, patients had been facing a great deal of inconvenience and had been forced to seek the service from private clinics on higher charges for their urgent and normal X-rays.

The hospital’s officials claim that the machine’s defect had been reported to higher officials, who were yet to send a mechanic for repair work.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2026