Eight killed in Chitral road accident

CHITRAL: Eight persons were killed and 11 others sustained injuries in a head-on collision between two passenger vans at Ragh village here on Wednesday, official sources said.

They said a passenger coach was heading to Booni from Chitral town when it fell into a ravine after colliding with another van in a bid to overtake a vehicle in the hilly area of Ragh village. Resultantly, eight persons were killed on the spot while 11 others sustained injuries.

The dead were identified as Rehmat Hussain and his son Umar belonging to Yarkhun village, Sarfaraz Lal, Muhammad Younas, Ali Muhammad, Farman Ali Khan, Fazal Ali and Suhail Mirza. Police officials said Sibghatullah, Adnan, Mir Hakim Khan, Taj Muhammad, Jan Muhammad, Sajjadur Rehman, Junaid, Mashhood Anwar and Nighat Khatoon were wounded.

Soon after the accident, the ambulances of the Al-Khidmat Foundation, Rescue 1122 and Edhi Foundation arrived and shifted the bodies and injured to the District Headquarters Hospital. The hospital sources said that three of the injured were shifted to a hospital in Peshawar due to their precarious condition.

It was stated to be the worst road accident on Chitral-Booni road in the last 20 years. The locals rushed to the scene and helped the ambulance personnel in rescuing the injured. Meanwhile, after visiting the victims at the DHQ Hospital Member National Assembly (MNA) Abdul Akbar Chitral asked the provincial government to announce compensation to families of the dead and injured. The police registered a case against the driver of the fielder van, Junaid Koghazi, under sections 279 and 337.