CHITRAL: At least eight people lost their lives and 10 others were injured when a passenger van fell into a deep ditch in Chitral ?who hit an other vehicle coming from opposite side.

According to SHO police station Koghuzai a ?passenger flying coach was travelling to ?Booni from Chitral? who was hit by a sport car at Raghlasht village and went out of driver?s control and fell into a deep ?ravine. ?6 passengers died on the spot while 2 die at hospital. while 10 others were injured. A woman was also among the injured. While a small boy of 8 years also died in the accident.

The bodies and the injured persons were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital Chitral. Sources said the death toll might increase as some of the injured were in critical condition. Initial reports suggested that six people died in the accident, while after a little while two injured succumbed to injuries and death toll mounted to eight.

The DHQ Hospital Chitral administration said the casualties were brought to the emergency department of the hospital at 11:00am. Emergency was declared at the hospital when the bodies and the injured were brought to the DHQ Hospital. Doctors and paramedics of DHQ Hospital covered the emergency despite they are on strike for the last three weeks.

Those who died in the accident ?were identified as ,Fazal Ali son of Sher Ali resident of Booni Teklasht, ?Muhammad Younus S/O Faraz of Seenlasht, Ali Muhammad of Zizde, Sohail Mirza S/O Mirza Khan of Charoon, Sarfaraz Lal S/O Quli Baig of Deewan goal Yarkhon,, Rehmat Hussain, Umar S/O Rahmat Hussain of yarkhun phashak, Farman Ali Khan S/O Najam Khan of Snooghur,

?while the injured included Sibghatullah S/O Abdullah Khan resident of Khone Chitral town, Adnan S/O Zargul Punjab, Mir Hakim Khan S/O Barzangi of Sewaht, Taj Muhammad S/O Ali Muhamad of Zazdi, Muhammad Ibrahim S/O Sher Saeed of Malkand, Jan Muhammad S/O Zar Muhammad of Ayun Atani, Sajjadur Rehman S/O Mutyeb Khan of Torkho Sorwakht, ?Nighat Khatoon D/O Mulazim Hussain of Reshun, Junaid Rehman S/O Khadim Nabi of Koghuzai and Masud Anwar S/O Noor Wali Shah resident of Kujo.

Most of those who died and sustained injuries were local people travelling in the flying coach. However, one injured belonged to Punjab and another to Malakand. Some serious patients were referred to Peshawar hospital who were taken in ambulance.

Traffic accidents routinely happen in Chitral mainly due to poor condition of roads and reckless driving by drivers. .. GH Farooqi, Chitral 16 Oct 2019