Three men perish as water tanker crushes car, motorbikes

Three men died and two others suffered injuries when a water tanker’s brakes failed and it rammed a car and three motorcycles near Qayyumabad on Wednesday.

Korangi Industrial Area (KIA) police duty officer Zulfiqar Khokhar said the tanker bearing registration number ILU-372 and carrying 4,000 litres of water hit the car and the motorcycles on the descent of the Jam Sadiq Bridge at 9:50am.

Alif Khan, 42, son of Haleem Khan, Gul Hassan, 52, son of Allah Ghoraya, and Ismail Khan, 30, son of Zardar Khan, died on the spot. Muhammad Ishaq, son of Muhammad Sharif, and Dayal Das, son of Sabraaj, were injured.

The casualties were moved to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). Talking to The News, JPMC Executive Director Dr Seemin Jamali said three bodies were brought to the Trauma Centre from Qayyumabad, and the victims suffered multiple injuries.

Duty officer Khokhar said police arrested the tanker driver, Shahbaz Ali, son of Muhammad Safdar, and impounded his vehicle. The car and two motorcycles were destroyed. Khokhar said Alif Khan was driving the car at the time of the accident. The other two men who lost their lives were on motorcycles.

SHO Sub Inspector Khalid Abbasi said the driver in his statement to police said he lost control of the tanker after the vehicle’s brakes suddenly failed. He said police were conducting an examination of the tanker to verify his claim.

When Landhi SP Muhammad Arif Aslam was contacted to ascertain details about the tanker’s owner, he said he was in a meeting and would talk after the meeting was over. No case had been registered by the time this report was filed.