Pregnant woman, man crushed to death by heavy vehicles

A pregnant woman and a man were killed in road traffic accidents on Tuesday. The government and police keep issuing statements and devising strategies, but no practical action has been observed, as traffic accidents continue to plague Karachiites.

Angered residents have started taking the law into their own hands by stopping heavy vehicles in different areas of the city, checking their documents, and torching some of them. A trailer, a dumper and two other trucks had been set on fire by Tuesday afternoon.

Transporters have also begun protesting, blocking Hub Chowk, New Sabzi Mandi on the Super Highway, and Port Qasim, disrupting the traffic coming into the city.

Following negotiations, police were able to disperse the protesters. The transporters demanded protection from the government, as there is growing fear among water tanker drivers due to the public’s anger.

Accidents

A pregnant woman died and her child was injured near Lucky Charai in Baldia Town after a passenger coach hit a motorbike carrying a family. Ayesha Faqir, 30, was killed and her daughter Maryam, 8, was injured. The woman’s husband and another daughter remained unharmed.

Separately, a dumper hit a motorbike in Musharraf Colony, Mochko, killing Siddiq Ahmed, 30, who hailed from Azad Kashmir and was employed as a construction worker.

Reactions

Since the residents of the city have also had to deal with street criminals themselves, they have now decided to deal with heavy vehicle drivers as well.

People set two freight trucks on fire in Landhi. The locals had been working since Monday night, trying to stop heavy vehicles from entering the residential areas of Landhi and Korangi. They told the drivers to go through the industrial areas instead.

Some people hurled stones at the heavy vehicles and broke their windowpanes. More violent incidents were reported early in the morning, including the torching of two cargo trucks in Landhi No. 4 and Landhi No. 6, but an attempt to torch a dumper in Landhi 89 was unsuccessful.

The locals claimed that while heavy vehicles are allowed from Dawood Chowrangi to the Korangi and Landhi industrial areas, many of them pass through the residential areas of Landhi and Korangi, causing numerous casualties, including women and children.

Police fired aerial shots to disperse the violent mob involved in the torching of the heavy vehicles, saying that they plan to take legal action against the perpetrators. They have also arrested around 10 suspects.

Separately, unidentified individuals torched a water tanker in Surjani Town before fleeing. Police said the suspects had first stopped the water tanker, then doused it with petrol to set it on fire. Police are searching for the perpetrators. Similarly, unidentified individuals torched a trailer parked in Liaquatabad No. 10 due to a malfunction.

Protests

Shopkeepers of the Sareena Mobile Market held a protest near Sakhi Hassan Chowrangi, as one of their colleagues was killed in a road traffic accident on Monday. A similar demonstration took place earlier near Nagan Chowrangi, where the protesters began stopping trucks, seizing their keys, and demanding legal documents from the drivers.

The protesters claimed that while police frequently stop ordinary citizens to check their documents and even demand bribes, heavy vehicles roam the streets unchecked, causing deadly accidents.

In just 42 days since the start of this year, at least 104 people have lost their lives in road traffic accidents across the city, while more than 1,200 have been injured. A significant number of these accidents involved heavy vehicles.

On several occasions, a single day has seen six to seven fatalities due to road traffic incidents. In some cases, a single dumper has crushed up to three people at once. Videos of these horrifying accidents have been circulating on social media, spreading both fear and outrage among people.

Despite the growing public anger, law enforcement and government officials have merely proposed various measures, with some still under consideration. Crackdowns and enforcement actions have been initiated, but the deadly trend of frequent road traffic accidents seems far from being curbed.