EDITORIAL: Fatal accidents on our highways have been recurring with dreadful frequency. On Sunday night at least 18 people, among them a couple with their two minor children, were burnt alive and over 20 others sustained burns when a bus en route from Karachi to Islamabad rammed into a parked pickup van loaded with diesel drums near Pindi Bhattian, and caught fire.
Some passengers saved their lives by breaking window panes and jumping out of the burning bus, drivers of both vehicles died on the spot.
The Motorway Police Inspector General who along with his deputy arrived on the accident scene to oversee rescue operations said that an additional inspector general of the central region would hold an inquiry to determine the cause of the accident and fire. In his instant opinion, though, the bus driver was responsible for it.
Indeed, negligent, rash driving is a common cause of such tragic accidents. But there are other factors, too, such as lack of check by relevant authorities on road worthiness of vehicles, granting of licences to inexperienced drivers, as well as improper alignment of roads. In this case, however, it seems the van with its highly inflammable cargo was parked at the wrong place which gave the bus driver little time to brake before the impact.
That apparently is the reason nine officers of the National Highways and Motorway Police (NH&MP) have been suspended on account of lax vigilance in their M-4 area beat. But there are also nagging questions about unsafe transportation of fuel. According to an NH&MP statement, their officers were not clear about any restriction on the movement of fuel drums on the motorway.
Irrespective of that ambiguity, that the van insecurely carried drums containing diesel shows they came from an illicit source. In fact, a senior officer told journalists that cheap Iranian petrol and diesel are being transported form Karachi to central and upper Punjab in high-deck passenger coaches using their luggage compartment to carry fuel in plastic cans, adding that from the way the bus was engulfed in fire the possibility of petrol in it could not be ruled out. This comes as no surprise.
It may be recalled that following a similar disaster in Baluchistan press reports had pointed out that fuel smuggled from Iran was freely being shipped in cans aboard passenger buses from that province to Karachi and onward to other parts of the country. Yet this dangerous activity has gone on in plain sight under the patronage of politically influential people.
The NH&MP are expected to conduct a thorough inquiry, make its outcome known and adopt necessary precautionary measures for future safety of passengers.
As for the other lurking danger, it may not be easy to block fuel smuggling across such a long border, but it should not be difficult for the law enforcement agencies to prevent transportation of cheap fuel to shadow markets all across the country. They must stop dithering and take action to stamp out this illegal activity endangering the lives of unsuspecting travellers.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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