KARACHI, Oct 9 Three different road accidents on Friday claimed the lives of three people — a school-age girl, a minor boy and a young father - police and witnesses said. In another incident, a man died at a railway junction.

Two of the victims were 33-year-old Nadeem Khan and seven-year-old Hajra Ali Nawaz. They both died early morning in the Sharea Faisal and Safoora Goth areas respectively.

The police said Nadeem, a resident of Malir, was on the way to his office located in the West Wharf area on his 70cc motorbike when he was hit on the rear end by a fast-moving coach. This happened on the middle of the Natha Khan Bridge which links the bus stops of Drigh Road and Shah Faisal Colony.

“There were no serious injuries on other parts of the body of the victim,” said Inspector Sohrab Khan Meo, SHO Sharea Faisal police station. “However, his head was badly hit when he fell from the moving motorbike and died instantly. Both the driver and conductor of the Marwat Coach (PE-2743) managed to escape after the accident abandoning their vehicle and passengers.”

The accident, he said, attracted a large number of people using public and private transport. The sight of the young man's body lying on the road led people to break the windows of the bus and then set it on fire, the officer added.

The witnesses said a law and order situation was created when some charged youngsters threw stones on other coaches and lay on roads while a huge crowd coupled with vehicles parked on the main road caused a major traffic jam during rush hour. They said by the time a fire tender reached the spot, the coach was almost completely burnt.

“We shifted the body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and the traffic turned normal after half an hour when the police intervened to disperse the people,” added Inspector Meo.

The deceased, who got married nearly two years ago, became a father of a girl some two months back. His aggrieved family said that his wife was in shock over the tragic death of Nadeem and was being treated at a local hospital.

“He worked for a shipping company and had been riding a motorbike for several years,” said Amir Khan, Nadeem's elder brother. His brother later registered an FIR (756/2009) under Section 320 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) at the Sharea Faisal police station for the unintentional murder by rash or negligent driving on the complaint of the victim's brother, Amir Khan.

The accident of seven-year-old Hajra Ali Nawaz took place while she was on her way to school with her father and three other siblings. They got hit by a dumper. The incident left the family of the little girl, who was the second youngest of seven siblings, traumatised and the people of the area angry. The responsible driver managed to escape from the scene.

The father of the deceased girl told Dawn that as a matter of course he was carrying the four children on his 70cc motorbike to their school. The children were his two daughters, a son and a niece.

“I parked my motorcycle on the roadside in front of Magsi Hospital for a brief meeting with my friend, a doctor, and left the four children outside to wait,” said Ali Nawaz, who is a teacher in a Sachal Goth's primary school.

“As I was meeting my friend inside the hospital, we heard people shouting outside which forced us to come out where I found my daughter lying in a pool of blood,” he said in an almost inaudible voice while sobbing uncontrollably.

He said witnesses told him that the children were calm and standing safely on the side of the road but it was the driver of a dumper bearing registration number LSA-2430 who killed the innocent girl.

“As I have been told my elder daughter and niece narrowly escaped the accident,” said Mr Nawaz, adding that he had not yet approached the police station to lodge an FIR as he was grief-stricken.

In another accident, a three-year-old minor boy was crushed to death by a trailer while he was playing outside his residence in Shah Khalid Colony near Rasheedabad in Baldia Town. The driver escaped after the deadly accident.

The son of a labourer and the youngest of five siblings, three-year-old Muneeb sustained fatal head injuries. The police officials at SITE-B police station said the victim's father, Akhtar Khan, was requested to lodge an FIR but he refused.

“We have seized the trailer and have also traced the owner of the heavy vehicle,” said an official at the police station, adding that the police would lodge the case on behalf of the state after legal formalities.

A 40-year-old man was crushed under a locomotive near Drigh Road railways junction, the railways police said. The victim identified as Qamar Zia and resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal fell of the moving Allama Iqbal Express.

“The reason behind the death remains unclear as the train was very slow when the victim came under the locomotive,” said ASI Irshad Baig posted at the Drigh Road post of the railways police. “Similarly, the incident occurred in the middle of the day and it is not problematic to cross the tracks as such at this time. An early probe suggests that the deceased was an employee of a private company and was doing official work when the tragedy took place.”