Daily Times

Six members of a family, five little children among them, were killed and three others injured in a road accident near Tandlianwala, a town in Punjab’s Faisalabad district, on Friday night.

The accident took place on a fogbound road on the outskirts of Tandlianwala, where a car collided with a tractor-trailer due to speeding. Six car occupants died on the spot and three others were injured.

A police official said the deceased were identified as Rabia Bibi, her daughters Fajr, 13, and Umama, 11, Yayha, 6, and Musa and Raees, both one-year-old.

Shahzeb, who was driving the car, his wife and son were injured. Police and rescue teams reached the spot after being informed about the tragedy and shifted the deceased and injured to hospital.

The injured persons were later shifted to a Faisalabad hospital due to their critical condition.

Police seized the tractor-trailer and launched hunt for its absconding driver. Road accidents are quite common in Pakistan, making it one of the hazardous countries because of potholed roads and streets. Fog compounds the problem and results in increase in accidents.

Dense fog again blanketed several parts of Punjab on night between Friday and Saturday, paralysing routine life and disrupting road traffic. The thick fog affected the flow of road traffic in several cities of Punjab. According to a spokesperson, the Motorway M2 from Lahore to Kot Momin, Motorway M3 Faizpur to Darkhana, Motorway M4 have been closed for all kinds of traffic. The Motorway police requested the drivers to use Grand Trunk (GT) Road for travelling. They also advised the drivers to drive slowly and switch on foglights.