At least fourteen passengers were killed and seven injured as a coach they were travelling in fell in deep ravine Lawari top here on Sunday, police said.
The Chitral bound passenger coach skidded off a mountain while driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a sharp turn near Lawari Top. Mountainous terrain Lawari top connects Dir district with Chitral district.
ACC Fahidullah Khan told a foreign news agency that the driver apparently lost control on a bend of the road, which was slippery with snow and rain, adding the van was carrying too many people.
The locals and police carried out rescue duties in retrieving the dead bodies and injured from the site of the accident.
Upper Dir District Nazim Sahibzada Fasihullah and Dir Tehsil Nazim Mir Makhzanudin reached the hospital to make sure the patients were being looked after properly. Some of the injured were in a critical condition.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak expressed profound grief over the loss of innocent lives in the accident and issued directives to the district and hospital administrations to provide the best available treatment facilities to the injured passengers.
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif too expressed his sorrow over the deaths in the accident.
The paths that wound around the mountains in the upper districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are narrow and unpaved, where negotiating turns becomes challenging for drivers.
The condition of these roads often worsens during monsoon or winters, when boulders make landslides due to rainfall and snow often block the routes.
Usually, locals are seen repairing the roads on a self-help basis when authorities do not take action, while most parts of such paths remain narrow and rock-strewn.
Over a month ago, three people died in a traffic accident when a car skidded into Panjkora River.
Perhaps the only country where you cannot even order a bus with seat belts on all seats. What a safety conscious country! Where did intense debate go?
Comments are closed.