CHAKWAL: Eight passengers lost their lives and 41were injured after the bus they were travelling in met an accident on Islamabad-Lahore Motorway near NeelahDullah Interchange on Friday. The incident occurred at around 12:30pm.

According to officials of the police and Punjab Emergency Service Rescue 1122, a bus, Gulab Coach, with 40 passengers on board,wasonitswayfromSwat toKarachi.

`When the bus reached near Bhagwal Bridge the driver lost control of the vehicle, which skidded off the road and fell into a six to seven feet ditch,` Station House Officer of Neelah Police Station Sohaib Zaffar told Dawn.

He said there was a sharp curve on the motorway and the driver should have been more cautious but he showed negligence which resulted in the crash. Following the accident, personnel of Rescue 1122 rushed to the scene. Besides, Assistant Superintendent of Police Sarah Hashmi along with a police team also reached theaccident spot.

Five passengers, including the bus driver, died on the spot while the injured were rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital Chakwal where three more passengers were pronounced dead.

Those who died were identified as Shumaila Bibi, 35; Areesh Khan, 40; Rafiullah, 25; Hamaima, 5; Syed Iqbal, 67; Subhan Allah, 54; Jahanzeb, 70 andMohammad Yar, 70. All the dead belonged to Swat area.

`There were two drivers in the bus.

Subhan Allah died on the spot while another driver identified as Wajid managed to escape from the scene,` SHO Sohaib Zaffar said.

He said the condition of the bus was also not good. `We have registered a case against the drivers and efforts are underway to trace the one who fled,` he added.

Meanwhile relatives of the dead and the injured started reaching Chakwal from Swat late in the evening.

A source at the DHQ Hospital said that all the injured patients were in stable condition and would be discharged soon.

`Five passengers who were in critical condition have been referred to Rawalpindi while 36 were still being treated at the DHQ Hospital,` Medical Superintendent Dr Sheikh Raftar Hussain told Dawn.

He said most of the injured were children.

The doctors at DHQ Hospital expressed serious concerns over the standing operating procedures under which the injured passengers of any road accident must be brought to the nearest government hospital of that area.

`The accident occurred on the Motorway near Neelah-Dullah Interchange from where Rawalpindi was just one hour`s drive but the patients with head injuries were brought to DHQ Hospital Chakwal which was also one hour`s drive away. As we do not have a neurosurgeon nor do we have facilities to treat patients of polytrauma, we had to refer five patients to Rawalpindi,` a senior doctor said.

`This practice has not only proved fatal for many patients but it had also wasted time, fuel and energy,` the doctor added.