The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the Sindh chief secretary on Wednesday to ensure DNA identification of the bus accident victims expeditiously.
SHC Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, who headed a division bench, also issued notices to the home secretary, secretary Regional Transport Authority (RTA), IG Sindh, DIG traffic, National Highway Authority (NHA) director general and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) administrator to submit detailed and comprehensive reports on the traffic accident on Superhighway that claimed over 60 lives.
The court further directed the chief secretary to ensure that the samples for DNA test are obtained and sent to the relevant DNA testing labs in Islamabad and Lahore as early as possible and pursue the matter vigorously so that the reports may be obtained at the earliest.
It instructed the authorities to explain possible cause of the accident and suggest ways and measures to prevent such occurrences in future. The bench had taken up a constitutional petition seeking probe into cause of the tragedy and action against those responsible for it. It set January 23 for next hearing.
A day before Chief Justice Baqar had converted into constitutional petition a letter addressed to him by an NGO, Justice Helpline, president Advocate Nadeem Shaikh and a relative of a bereaved lawyer family.
In the letter, it was stated that an advocate Muhammad Yasin Ahmed and his family travelling in ill-fated bus lost their lives and their burnt bodies were beyond identification.
Advocate Nadeem said fire tenders of Pakistan Steel Mill were in close proximity to the place of accident but its administration did not render any assistance to extinguish fire. The cattle colony fire station as per routine remained open from 9am to at 5pm, adding it was very strange that fire department was negligent about that fact and there was no check on their activities by the provincial government.
He said bereaved families were waiting for the charred bodies of their relatives lying at the mortuary due to DNA identification but the authorities delaying the matter.
He prayed that direction be given to the government to make payment of reasonable compensation to the legal heirs of victims.
At least 62 people, including women and children, were today when their overcrowded bus collided head-on with a speeding oil tanker on January 12, 2015 sparking a major fire in southern Pakistan, in the deadliest road accident to hit the country in recent times.
The deadly accident occurred in the early hours on the Super Highway about 50 kms from here in Sindh province as the bus was travelling from Karachi to Shikarpur, Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Siddiqui said.
The overcrowded bus, carrying around 80 people with some sitting on its roof, collided with an oil tanker coming from the opposite direction and wrong side of the road.
Deputy Executive Director and In-charge, Emergency and Accident Department, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre, Dr Seemien Jamali said the number of dead may be higher than 60 as most of them are completely burnt and stuck to each other. She specifically referred to the bodies of at least six children stuck to women who may have been their mothers and said under the circumstances exact number of dead can not be immediately ascertained and DNA test is needed for their identification.
“Most of the bodies are beyond recognition and it is also impossible to separate the remains,” said the senior doctor mentioning that dead and injured also include women and children. “They are beyond recognition and can only be identified by DNA test,” she reiterated. It may be mentioned that a few passengers escaped unhurt as they managed to jump off the coach immediately and later the coach was overcrowded, a common practice among local public transport operators in the absence of safety regulations. They also confirmed that the vehicle itself was also not well maintained with no provision to handle any mishap, including fire extinguisher or essential first aid.
Medico Legal Department of Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre has asked the immediate family members of Saturday’s National Highway accident victims to provide with their blood samples so as to help in identification of the charred bodies. Deputy Executive Director of the hospital, Dr Seemien Jamali talking to APP said that sample collection of each of the 59 charred body is also in process for providing them to police. “Since normally required blood sample is simply not possible with these badly mutilated bodies therefore we have to collect parts as essential samples,” she said in reply to a question. Dr Seemien Jamali said the exercise would be completed by Sunday evening and these would be handed to the police authorities to be despatched to National Forensic Laboratory Centre, Islamabad and ascertain exact identity of those dead, easing the important legal formalities, including handing over of bodies to their respective families. In reply to a question, she said JPMC doctors and nurses serving at its medico legal department are also engaged in collecting blood samples from bereaved family members and those claiming to be the legal heirs of the dead for further facilitation of the process.
Dr Jamali said that bodies would be placed at Edhi Welfare Trust’s mortuary till all legal formalities are completed and these are collected by their respective heirs. To another query, Dr Jamali said at the moment even the gender of these bodies could not be ascertained.
Initial reports said the tanker was travelling on the wrong side of the road along a dilapidated stretch of highway, police said. It was the second crash involving major loss of life in Sindh province in less than three months. Authorities transferred the remains to a local morgue after taking samples for DNA testing in order to identify them. Doctor Semi Jamali at Karachi’s Jinnah hospital said another four passengers with minor injuries have been discharged.
Wednesday 14 January 2015
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2015/01/14/city/karachi/shc-directs-sc-to-complete-dna-identification-of-bus-accident-victims-expeditiously/
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/sindh/12-Jan-2015/bus-hits-oil-tanker-in-karachi-67-burnt-beyond-recognition
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