Six people died and three were injured due to reckless driving in different parts of the metropolis, officials said on Friday, a day after the police chief formed the Karachi Road Accident Analysis Team (Kraat) to analyse the rise in traffic accidents.
To address the rising number of traffic accidents in the city, especially those involving heavy vehicles, Karachi Additional Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Javed Alam Odho formed Kraat to analyse their causes and submit a detailed report to the authorities.
Karachi Trafffic Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Pir Mohammed Shah confirmed to Dawn.com that six people lost their lives in traffic accidents in Karachi today.
“A Bykea rider, along with a passenger, was hit by an unknown vehicle near the Japan consulate early in the morning,” he said.
He added that the vehicle crashed into the footpath, causing the pair to fall to the ground. They were rushed to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where the passenger was pronounced dead.
Civil Lines police Station House Officer (SHO) Khan Mohammed Bhatti said that the identity of the deceased could not be ascertained immediately, while the condition of the Bykea rider was said to be out of danger.
In another incident, DIG Shah said a pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run incident in Liaquatabad last night. Sharifabad police SHO Mehar Yusuf identified the deceased as Mohammed Shahid.
SHO Mehar said that Shahid was crossing the street when an unknown vehicle hit him and killed him.
In the third such incident, a man was riding a motorcycle when an unknown vehicle hit him on the Northern Bypass in Manghopir. DIG Shah said one witness told the police that a bus was involved in the incident.
Manghopir police SHO Imran Ahmed Khan identified the deceased as Wali Deedar.
DIG Traffic said he categorises such accidents as rash and negligent, adding that Kraat has started to analyse the causes of the accidents.
He said that the first incident investigated by the body was the accident near Frere Hall, adding that it was a “painstaking process” to determine the causes of the fatal accidents.
Separately, Mauripur police SHO Chaudhry Aslam said a 40-year-old man, Bashir Ahmed, was hit by a trailer at a turning point near Muslim Kanta on Mauripur Road last night while he was carrying doors for a hut in a Suzuki van.
Ahmed died on the spot, whereas both drivers managed to escape, leaving behind the vehicles, which were taken into custody by the police.
In another incident, a 30-year-old man was killed, while another man was critically injured when a trailer hit their bike near Qayumabad Bridge last night, an Edhi Foundation spokesperson said.
“The body and the injured were shifted to the JPMC, where their identity could not be ascertained immediately,” the spokesperson added.
Separately, an Edhi Foundation spokesperson said that two men were critically injured in an accident near Nasir Jump in Korangi yesterday evening.
They were taken to the JPMC, where one of them, identified as Immanuel Shahbaz, 18, succumbed to injuries during treatment in the afternoon today.
Rules restricting the movement of heavy vehicles were recently implemented in the metropolis amid rising traffic accidents involving dumpers and tankers and protests over the deaths of citizens.
Last month, the provincial government banned the entry of heavy vehicles into the city during the daytime, only allowing them to operate from 11pm to 6am.
The Sindh government has also made it mandatory for all heavy vehicles in Karachi to have a physical fitness certificate amid the rising number of traffic accidents involving dumper trucks.
Rights activists and members of civil society have said that the increasing number of fatal road accidents in the city and the poor state of traffic law enforcement are violations of human rights, which the state has failed to safeguard.
Provincial lawmakers belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan have also criticised the traffic police for its “failure” to control the heavy vehicles that claimed over 80 lives in January alone.
