Daily Times

As many as 33 passengers died and 59 sustained injuries after a bus collided head on with a trailer at Jhok Yar Shah area in Dera Ghazi Khan on early Monday.

According to Rescue 1122, a bus, LES-06, was heading towards Rajanpur from Sialkot when it collided with a trailer, C/9537, leaving many passengers dead on the spot while the rest breathed their last at the hospital.

Rescuers had to cut the body of the bus to retrieve the dead and the injured. Most of the victims were young men, some in their teens and adolescents and fewer in their 50s. Majority of those died and suffered injuries hailed from Darkhwast Jamal Khan area. A woman and a ten years old girl were the only females injured in the accident.

Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar expressed heartfelt grief on the tragic incident and ordered commissioner DG Khan to ensure best treatment facilities to the injured. He said Punjab government was standing by the bereaved families in this hour of grief adding that he said, emergency has been declared at the Ghazi teaching hospital. The chief minister also sought a detailed report from commissioner and Regional Police Officer (RPO) with orders to take legal action against those found responsible for the mishap, said an official release.

MS hospital Dr. Najeeb said that 32 deceased passengers have been identified and their bodies have been sent to their respective hometowns to ensure their heirs can perform their Namaz-e-Janaza and subsequent burial. However, one deceased has not yet been identified, the doctor added.

Regional Emergency Officer Dr. Natiq Hayat said that nineteen (19) Rescue 1122 vehicles including fourteen ambulances, a fire vehicle, two rescue vehicles and a special vehicle were used in the rescue operation.

Two injured persons were provided first aid treatment on the spot while the dead and injured were shifted to hospital. Below are the names of the dead and injured identified so far.

Babar (20-21) s/o Anwar Chandia r/o Darkhwast Jamal Khan, Imran (23-24) s/o Wahid Bakhsh r/o Darkhwast Jamal Khan, Kaleemullah (18-19) s/o Khadim Hussain Chandia r/o Jampur, Zahid (21-22) s/o Faiz r/o Darkhwast Jamal Khan, Awais (20-21) s/o Ghulam Fareed Chandia r/o Darkhwast Jamal Khan, Naeem (22-23) s/o Farooq Zohrani r/o Darkhwast Jamal Khan, Sadiq Hussain (24-25) r/o Abdul Sattar r/o MuhammadPur, Jafar (27-28) s/o Mubarak Khan r/o Darkhwast Jamal Khan, Irfan (17-18) s/o Jan Bazgeer r/o Dajal, Abdur Razzaq (12-13) s/o Jafar Ahmadani r/o Jampur, Azam (24-25) s/o Ghulam Hussain r/o Kotla Sher, Dost Ali Khan r/o Jampur, Lal Ismail, Ismail (50-51) s/o Rasool Bakhsh r/o Fazalpur, Dost Ali s/o Jumma Khan, Hafiz Sajjad (20-21) s/o Shamla r/o Dajal, Hanif (45) s/o Huzoor Bakhsh r/o MuhammadPur (Jampur), Ismail (30) s/o Ibraheem r/o Darkhwast Jamal Khan, Ghulam Murtaza (50) s/o Munir Ahmad r/o Fazalpur, Muhammad Tariq (31) s/o Abdul Ghaffar r/o Jampur, Shahnawaz (28) s/o Kham Muhammad r/o Darkhwast Jamal Khan, Shameer (30) s/o Allah Bakhsh r/o Darkhwast Jamal Khan, Jamshed Ahmad (38) s/o Haji Muhammad r/o Rajanpur.