DADU: Fourteen people were 1(illed and 35 others suffered injuries when a passenger coach rammed into a stationary truck on Sehwan-Jamshoro section of Indus Highway in the Petaro area on Tues day early morning.

The Karachi-bound coach was coming from Dera Ismail Khan when it hit the truck loaded with sand and gravel.

As a result, 10 people died on the spot and four others breathed their last while being taken to hospital.

The deceased were identified as Faiz Mohammad Manjotho, an army soldier, 10-year-old Mustafa Khan, Arbab Ali Lund, Suleman, Mohammad Mustafa,Yaseen Khan, Abdul Sattar, Faiz Mohammad, Abu Bakar, Faiz Mohammad Khoso, A achar Khan, Meer Mohammad, Amir Khan and Karo.

According to police, eight bodies were sent to the Civil Hospital Hyderabad and six were kept at the Liaquat University Hospital in Jamshoro.

Zakaria, an injured man, said that the coach driver was talking on mobile phone when the accident took place.

The driver lost control of the speedy coach which caused the accident, he said.

Aftab Ahmed, a rescue worker, said that the bodies and the injured were trapped into the mangled coach and they had to cut the body of the vehicle to take them out of it. He said that mostof wounded had received head injuries.

Shamsuddin, a witness, said that ambulances took considerable time to reach the place of the accident and,in the meantime, some of the injured died.

After the injured were brought to the Jamshoro hospital, they could not be properly tal(en care of because of shortage of doctors and paramedics, he said.

The injured included Qari Naeem, Hajran, Saeed Ahmed, Rabiuddin, Tariq, Dargaha Bibi, Hakim Bibi, Kubra Bibi, Abdul Hameed, Mudassir, Saima Bibi, Samreen, Mohammad Amin, Abdul Ghaffar, Altaf, Faiz Mohammad, Mohammad Ayaz, Zahoor Khan, Baitullah, Mohammad Bilwal, Hatoo Khan and Mohammad Rasool.

SSP of Jamshoro retd Capt TariqWilayat said that police had impounded thecoachandthe truck.

Commissioner of Hyderabad Kazi Shahid Pervaiz blamed lacl( of efforts by traffic police to discourage speedy and reckless driving on Indus Highway for the tragedy.

He said that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had contacted him, received information about the accident and directed the hospital administration to provide proper treatment to the injured. The chief minister had also contacted the National Highway Authority chairman and asked him to turn the JamshoroSehwan section of the highway into dual carriageway.

Our Staff Correspondent adds fromHyderabad: Sindh Social Welfare Minister Shamim Mumtaz visited the Civil Hospital and enquired after the health of the injured.

She said that she would ask the chief minister to order payment of compensation to the families of deceased and the injured. Eleven of the injured had been shifted to a Karachi hospital, she said.

APP adds: Accidents on JamshoroSehwan section of the highway having a single lane and dangerous curves have become a routine.

Social activists of the area have staged protests to draw attention of authorities concerned to the issue and demanded extension of the highway into a double-lane road to prevent accidents.