Eight people including three women of a family were killed and 14 others were injured on Tuesday when a passenger bus collided with a tractor-trolley on Bhalwal-Sargodha Road near Ajnala railway station.
According to Rescue officials, the front tyre of the Bhera-bound bus [from Rajanpur] burst and led to the driver losing control of the vehicle.
They said seven people, including drivers of the bus and the tractor-trolley, died on the spot.
The deceased have been identified as Muhammad Iqbal from Kot Momin, Nafisa Bibi from Jhang, Sabri Bibi from Bhera, Eeman Fatima from Bhera, Azmat Shah from Dera Ghazi Khan, Muhammad Rafiq from Muzaffargarh, Ghulam Haider from Sial and Mohsin from Khangarh.
The injured were taken to Bhalwal Tehsil Headquarters Hospital and Sargodha District Hospital.
According to witnesses, the rescuers had to cut the body of the bus to pull out the injured.
SP Malik Muhammad Iqbal and DSP Amir Abdullah Rokhri too visited the scene. Assistant commissioner Nazar Abbas Baloch and Assistant Commissioner Altaf Hussain Sario visited the THQ hospital.
Dr Ghazanfar Malik of the Tehsil Headquarters hospital said the condition of nine patients was critical. He said they had been shifted to the district hospital. He said the condition of five people at the THQ hospital was out of danger.
The bodies, including three of a family from Bhera, have been handed over to the relatives of the deceased, Rescue officials said.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2013.