LAHORE, May 13: At least four people, including the sister and brother-in-law of the Punjab governor, were killed and scores of others were injured, 15 of them critically, in a pile-up involving 16 vehicles near the Sheikhupura inter-change on the Motorway on Tuesday.

The pile-up was blamed on poor visibility caused by a thick layer of smoke emanating from nearby fields lit by farmers after harvesting wheat to clear the soil for next sowing.

The accident took place at 12.30pm when the driver of a car coming from Lahore applied emergency brakes and the vehicles behind, including two trucks, a bus and several cars, rammed into each other.

Witnesses said that the smoke had engulfed at least half a kilometre stretch of the Motorway and there were no warning signs for motorists.

Traffic from Lahore to Islamabad and Faisalabad was halted for about two hours as a large number of vehicles were stuck up in a jam. Motorway police later erected barricades at the Kala Shah Kaku interchange and diverted traffic towards GT Road.

The injured people were taken to the Sheikhupura District Hospital where four of them died.

SSP Dr Arif Mushtaq told Dawn that four passengers had been killed and 15 injured, adding that at least 16 vehicles had been damaged.

He confirmed the death of Apa Naseem, sister of Governor Khalid Maqbool, and her husband Sheikh Ejaz. Other victims were identified as Shafqat Ali and his close relative Ruksana, of Faisalabad.

Another police officer said that the governor’s mother was in the same car. The driver parked the car in a lay-by and took her to the other side of the road to save her from effects of smoke.

“When Sheikh Ejaz and his wife were about to come out of the car, their car was hit by another vehicle and they died on the spot,” the officer said.

“The police patrol should have stopped the highway traffic at a distance after spotting the fire and smoke, but they kept allowing vehicles at the maximum speed of 120km/h,” said Tasawar Iqbal, who escaped unhurt but his car was completely damaged.

Another passenger said that he was going to Gujranwala when he suddenly saw the road ahead covered in patches of dense smoke. He reduced the speed but his car ran into another vehicle while a truck hit his car from the rear.

“The truck dragged my car but luckily I survived,” he added.

He said he did not see a single Motorway official near the place.

SSP Arif Mushtaq, however, said that Motorway personnel had stopped many vehicles at a safe point, otherwise the losses could have been colossal.