KARACHI: Four people were killed and over 20 injured when a truck collided with a vehicle carrying employees of a local company on their way to a retreat near the northern bypass of Karachi in southern Pakistan, police said.
Police surgeon Karachi, Dr. Summaiya Syed Tariq, said the group was on its way to a picnic point when the accident happened. The injured were rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
“Four deceased and 23 injured employees of a company were brought to hospital,” Tariq told Arab New.
The tragedy serves as a stark reminder of perilous road safety conditions in Pakistan, where there is scant adherence to safety regulations and even main motorways are in a dilapidated state.
Pakistan has one of the highest rates of road accident-related deaths worldwide. Data compiled by the World Health Organization in February this year revealed that in 2020 alone, road accidents accounted for a staggering 28,170 deaths in Pakistan, or 1.93 percent of all recorded fatalities.
Earlier this week, a Portuguese tourist was killed when a speeding pick-up truck hit his motorbike near Dalbandin in the southwestern Chagai district, a day after he had entered Pakistan from the Pakistan-Iran border.
Pakistan’s transport safety crisis extends beyond roads, with the railway system, most of it built in the pre-partition British era, being equally precarious. On Sunday, at least 30 people were killed when a tarin derailed near Nawab Shah on its way from Karachi to Havelian in Abbottabad.
On June 7 2021, two trains collided near Daharki in the Ghotki district of the southern province of Sindh in Pakistan, killing at least 65 and leaving 150 others injured.
This Saturday, another train, the Allama Iqbal Express, derailed near Padidan station in Sindh. No loss of life was reported.
