Kallar Kahar bus tragedy: Motorway police devise strategy to control accidents

ISLAMABAD: The National Highways and Motorway Police (NH&MP) has devised a strategy for controlling accidents in the Kallar Kahar salt range area In the aftermath of the deadly bus accident on Islamabad-Lahore motorway, ARY News reported on Sunday.

“In order to prevent accidents, the strategy of passing the buses from Kallar Kahar in the form of a convoy has been decided,” DIG (Motorway North Zone) Muhammad Yusuf Malik said in a statement.

He said that the motorway police has formulated a strategy to protect the precious lives of public service transport, especially passengers and staff of passenger buses and other traffic on the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway.

He said that for the purpose of road safety, it has been decided that buses travelling from Islamabad to Lahore will be issued time cards at predetermined safe places on the motorway and strict monitoring will be done with the help of speed-checking cameras and police patrolling officers at the Salt Range.

He said that before the start of PSV Halt Point Area 232 km, the appropriate number of buses will be stopped at a safe place near the signboard and dispatched in the shape of convoys with Motorway Police mobiles about 10 km of salt range Kallar Kahar while on the rest of the journey, the existing rules of the National Highways and Safety Ordinance will continue to apply in the same manner.

According to the Motorway Police officials, through this effort, it would be possible to bring a significant reduction in the accidents that occur on the Motorway, especially in Salt Range Kallar Kahar.

It should be noted that on behalf of NH&MP, all the entry points of the Motorway, Briefing Officers and the checking staff are on duty round the clock in three shifts and for this purpose, at the Islamabad toll plaza under the management of Sector M2 North.

A day earlier, at least 13 people, including five women, were killed and 31 others injured when a bus veered off the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway and overturned near Kallar Kahar.

The police, in a statement said, driver lost control over the steering apparently due to a ‘brake failure’. It was around 3.30pm when the Jhang-bound bus (BBA452) was passing through Kallar Kahar and its driver lost control over the steering due to ‘brake failure’.

Earlier in Feb 2023, at least 14 members of a wedding party, including women and children, were killed and 64 people were injured after a bus fell into a ravine and overturned near Kallar Kahar.