Two killed, 22 injured in Lowari Top accidents

People ask govt to ban night-time travel,
close illegal bus stands in Peshawar

CHITRAL: The night-time travel by the transporters on the Lowari Top has become death trap for passengers as two men were killed and another 22 sustained injuries in separate road accidents, police said on Sunday.

Eyewitnesses said that the first incident occurred near a seasonal stream Mitti Khwar near Lowari Top when a passenger van taking people to Chitral from Peshawar plunged into a gorge.

They said the driver of the van reportedly dozed off and the vehicle fell into a deep gorge. As a result, the police said, that two passengers Sagheer and Kamran were killed on the spot while 12 others sustained injuries.

The injured were identified as Abdul Majeed, Ahmad Sharif, Abdul Wahab, Amjad Hussain, Qadirul Islam, Aziz Wali, Sirajuddin, Saddam Hussain, Ihsan Ali, Sajjad and Samiullah. The name of one passenger couldn’t be known.

Some injured were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital in Chitral while others were transported to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Drosh. The condition of an injured Amjad Hussain was stated to be critical and he was referred to a hospital in Peshawar.

The second incident, the sources said, occurred on the Dir side of the Lowari Top in which 10 passengers were injured. The relatives of the injured passengers expressed anger at the night-time travel by the transporters on the dangerous Lowari Top road.

They alleged that the transporters have established illegal bus stands in Peshawar, but the police and district administration didn’t take any action.They said these transporters forced the passengers to travel by the night and they overloaded the vehicles to earn extra bucks.

They said that travel during the night with overloaded vehicles on the dangerous road endangered lives of the passengers. They asked the inspector general of police to direct the cops to take action against illegal bus stands in the limits of Kabuli Police Station in the provincial capital. They also urged the Transport Department to remove illegal ticket selling outlets in Peshawar and make the transporters stop night-travel to Chitral.