JHANG, Feb 2: Seven members of a family perished and another eight of their relatives suffered injuries in a vehicular collision near Aliabad, hardly six kilometres from the district on Jhang-Multan Road on Friday evening.

The driver carrying the family back home from a shrine also died while the condition of six of the injured was stated to be precarious.

According to reports, Basharat Ali of Faisalabad and Rafaqat Ali of Toba Tek Singh, two brothers, took their families to the shrine of Hazrat Sultan Bahu, about 85 kilometres from here, by a pickup (FDD-9771) early in the morning.

On their way back, near Aliabad police post, their pickup collided head-on with a Shorkot-bound bus (JA-6006) that was coming from Lahore. As a result, Rafaqat’s wife Saleh Bibi, daughter Ansa, son Ansar, Basharat’s wife Sajida, daughters Kulsoom and Laiba, Sajjad, son of Abbas Ali, besides driver Zahid died on the spot.

Rafaqat, Basharat, Naseer, Afzal, Nadia, Usman, Rubeena Abbas and Aasia were injured and were taken to the Jhang district headquarters hospital. Except the two brothers, all the injured could not regain consciousness till last reports came in at night.

According to an eyewitness, the accident occurred owing to overspeeding by two racing buses. The driver of one of the buses could not discern the pickup coming from the opposite direction and banged into it.

Police claimed to have arrested the bus driver.

SHOT DEAD: An elderly man was shot dead by unknown assailants at Chandna village, about 65 kilometres from here, in the 18 Hazari police station precinct.

Muhammad Imran, a son of deceased Muhammad Yousaf, stated in a complaint that he had gone to Khushab along with his mother to see his ailing sister, while his father and a sister stayed back home.

About midday (Thursday), he said, he received a phone call from his sister who informed him that some unidentified people had shot dead their father.

The police instituted a case, but could not ascertain the motive behind the crime.