LAHORE /ISLAMABAD – At least eight people lost their lives and dozens sustained injuries in a series of road accidents reported early Wednesday across Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, highlighting once again the persistent dangers posed by overspeeding, reckless driving and poor enforcement of traffic regulations.
In Sialkot, a tragic crash on Badiana Road claimed the lives of three family members travelling in a rickshaw.
According to the rescue officials, two speeding cars collided with the rickshaw, killed two brothers and their cousin on the spot. The eyewitnesses said the drivers of both vehicles appeared to be racing each other moments before the collision. The impact was so severe that the rickshaw was completely destroyed. The witnesses further reported that both car drivers fled the scene immediately after the accident while the police launched a search for their arrest.
In Charsadda, two schoolchildren died and 24 others were injured when a school van crashed into a truck on the Tangi Bypass. Rescue 1122 teams rushed to the site and shifted the injured students to nearby hospitals. The medical staff said several of the children had sustained serious injuries, and an emergency was declared to manage the sudden influx of patients.
The local authorities started assessing whether the van was overloaded, a frequent issue in the area.
Another fatal accident occurred in Bhakkar, where a passenger bus collided with a truck on MM Road. The crash resulted in the deaths of two passengers and left nine others injured. The rescue workers transported the victims to the district headquarters hospital, where treatment was underway.
In Swabi, two buses collided at Shewa Adda Chowk, killing two people and injuring 15 others. The initial reports suggested that one of the buses may have attempted to overtake another vehicle which resulted in the crash.
The police said that the investigations are underway in all cases while growing road accidents continued to raise serious concerns about road safety standards across the region.
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