Daily Times

The Secretary of Emergency Services Dr. Rizwan Naseer advised the citizens to switch off the gas heater before going to bed to avoid fire incidents. He appealed the people to give a toll-free call at 1122 rescue helpline in case of any emergency for prompt response to emergencies. He stressed that only timely calls can help to minimize the life and property damage. Dr Rizwan Naseer also showed his grave concern over 346 deaths of people in road traffic crashes.

He expressed these views while chairing a monthly review meeting of the rescue operation of all districts of Punjab at Rescue Headquarters here on Wednesday. Secretary of Punjab Emergency Service Dr. Rizwan Naseer was briefed by the Head of PMC on the monthly rescue operation in detail. The PMC briefed that the Punjab Emergency Service (PES), rescued 135461 victims while responding to 141729 emergencies with an average response time of seven minutes across Punjab during the month of January 2023. Out of 141729 emergencies, Rescue Service responded, 31194 were road traffic accidents, 92755 medical emergencies, 1937 were fire incidents, 2607 crime incidents, 29 drowning incidents, 23 structural collapses, 664 animal rescues and 12520 miscellaneous operations in Punjab

On this occasion, Provincial Monitoring Cell (PMC) briefed the Secretary PES about monthly emergency statistics. He was informed that 346 people died in 31194 RTCs in Punjab during the last month. Out of these traffic crashes, the majority of traffic crashes i.e., 7037 occurred in Lahore in which 28 people died. Similarly, 2305 RTCs in Multan, 2295 RTCs in Faisalabad, 1774 in Gujranwala, 1207 in Rawalpindi, and 1108 in Bahawalpur while the remaining 15468 accidents took place in 30 districts of Punjab.

Similarly, the majority of fire incidents 1937 took place in all Punjab out of which 522 incidents in Lahore, 171 in Faisalabad, 128 in Rawalpindi, 92 in Multan, 85 in Gujranwala, 73 in Sialkot and remaining 866 fire incidents were reported in 30 districts of Punjab. It was also stated that the highest number of 934 broke out because of short circuits, 283 carelessness, 150 gas leakages, 58 candles, 29 kitchen fires and three fire cases reported each of LPG cylinders and fireworks whereas 251 unknown fire cases. The statistic revealed that out of 1937 fire cases, 21 people died and 191 people were injured in which the majority of 623 fire cases were reported in residential areas and 495 commercial areas. The Rescue 1122 estimated loss saved 3759 million during January 2023. After a detailed review of the emergency data, Dr Rizwan expressed his grave concern over 346 deaths of people in 31194 road traffic crashes during the last month. He requested the motorbike riders to adopt road safety measures and reduce their speed limit by up to 30 Km/h.