Sehwan Sharif, Sindh (Muhammad Azhar Kaleem) November 18- At least 20 people have died after a van crashed into a flooded ditch in Sehwan Sharif, Sindh province, Pakistan.
[At least 20 people, including women and children, were killed when a van carrying a trailer bound for Sewan to visit the temple of Lal Shevaz Kalandar crashed into a water-filled ditch near the Indus highway.
The passenger van, reportedly carrying devotees of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar from Khairpur Mirs to Sehwan, veered off the main road near the Sehwan Toll Plaza, where a cut was given to the road to channel the floodwater towards River Indus.
The locals as well as those travelling on the highway volunteered to pull out the bodies from the water before the police and rescue teams reached the spot. All the dead and injured were shifted to Abdullah Shah Institute of Medical and Health Sciences in Sehwan, Jamshoro district.
“We have received 20 bodies till now and among them eight are women, six girls and four boys,” a doctor on duty told the Journalist Dileep Kumar Khatri. The institute`s director, Moinuddin Siddiqui, also confirmed the death toll. He said that among the five injured, three were in stable condition, while two others were on ventilators.
The locals waded in the water to pull out the bodies and injured from the van, which was lifted out of the water with the help of a crane in the dark of the night, according to the rescuers and eyewitnesses.
Deputy Commissioner Jamshoro Farid-Uddin Mustafa said that 33 passengers were on board the ill-fated van. Twenty passengers lost their lives when the van plunged into the ditch, he said, adding that 13 passengers were rescued alive.
Police said that the Indus Highway was dredged at different points to drain out floodwater. However, the road cavities have not been filled so far, even after two months.
The catastrophic flooding — which put a third of Pakistan underwater and displaced eight million of the country’s population — are yet another hurdle affectees struggle to overcome.
However, due to the negligence of the National Highways Authority, the breach on the Highway could not be filled and resulted in the horrific incident.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, Governo Sindh Kamran Tessori, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon and KMC administrator Barrister Murtaza Wahab expressed their regret and condolences over the incident and have directed the concerned authorities to take all the measures to help the victims’ families and extend best medical facilities to the injured
Meanwhile, the victims of the van incident have been identified. According to hospital sources, the deceased identified as Mahmooda, Musamat Suna, Musamat Bhimbal, Benazir, Juman, Leela, Shahida, Musamat Soonh, Madia, Allah Dini, Noman, Dilshad, Allah Dino, Usman, Mahboob and Shahnawaz.
The deceased was heading to the shrine of Qalandar Lal Shahbaz when the van they were travelling in had a fatal accident. He belongs to the Phulputo community.
