11 children injured as school van catches fire in Murree
“Eleven children were injured when a school van caught fire after an accident in Murree on Tuesday, with four of them in critical condition being referred to hospitals in Rawalpindi, police said. Eight …”
Eight children with minor injuries were admitted to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) in Murree, while the van was destroyed by the fire. Murree District Police Officer (DPO) Raza Tanveer Supra said the accident occurred after the van’s brakes failed.
The vehicle caught fire shortly afterwards and was completely gutted. Four of the injured children were in critical condition and were referred to hospitals in Rawalpindi for further treatment, while the remaining children were being treated at DHQ Hospital Murree.
Locals helped rescue the children from the van shortly after the accident, while rescue teams and firefighters reached the scene and brought the fire under control. Read:Murree bus crash claims five lives. The DPO visited the injured children at the hospital and reviewed the medical facilities being provided to them.
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Police said the cause of the accident was being determined and legal proceedings were under way. Supra said a similar incident involving a van fire had occurred in Murree previously. He added that vehicle fitness checks would also be carried out on vehicles operating in rural areas to help prevent such incidents.
The latest accident came after several fatal road crashes in the Murree area in recent months. On June 11, at least 10 people were killedand 13 injured when a passenger van carrying members of the same family plunged into a stormwater drain and caught fire on the Rawalpindi-Murree Expressway near Khajut.
On August 26, five people were killedand 13 injured when a passenger bus plunged into a ravine near Lower Barian at the Murree-Galiyat junction. Witnesses and injured passengers attributed the crash to alleged driver negligence, while relatives called for an impartial investigation.
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