Daily Times

SHEIKHUPURA: At least 15 people, including 10 schoolchildren, were killed and more than 25 injured in a collision between a car and a truck on Manawala Road early on Wednesday.

According to locals, a speeding car hit a truck loaded with cylinders filled with liquefied petroleum gas due to thick fog in the Manawala police precincts. The collision caused an explosion and a huge fire immediately engulfed two rickshaws taking children to school. The accident resulted in death of 10 schoolchildren and five others – two rickshaw drivers and three people travelling by the car. The fire also gutted five nearby shops.

According to initial reports, the car belonged to Amjad Ali, cameraman of a private news channel, resident of Khanqah Dogran. Ali was in the car at the time of the incident.

Rescue 1122 and Sheikhupura District Police Officer Jawad Tariq reached the scene.

According to police sources, the truck carrying gas cylinders to Sheikhupura collided with the car coming from the opposite direction.

According to eyewitnesses, the accident occurred when the truck driver lost the control of his vehicle while overtaking another vehicle near a U-turn.

Rescuers shifted the bodies and the injured to Sheikhupura and Nankana Sahib district hospitals. Five injured were stated to be in a critical condition. Twelve seriously injured people were sent to hospitals in Faisalabad and Lahore.

Some of those who died in the accident were identified as Waleed, Hamza Hammad, Shazia Farooq, Shagufta and Amjad Ali.

Fire fighters were called in to extinguish the fire, which erupted after the explosion.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the accident and ordered an investigation into it. He directed the authorities to provide best possible medical treatment to the injured.