BAHAWALPUR: All 57 people injured in the oil-tanker blast who received compensation cheques worth Rs0.5 million each from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) underwent bio-metric verification process at the ofhce of Ahmedpur East assistant commissioner on Thursday.

The bio-metric verification of the compensation recipients was carried out by the members of the visiting Ogra team.

Ogra senior executive director Imran Ghaznavi, along with Deputy Commissioner Rana Muhammad Saleem Afzal, had earlier distributed the compensation cheques among them at local circuit houseon Wednesday.

Ahmedpur East AC told Dawn by phone that the Ogra team had withdrawn the cheques from as many as 240 recipients on Wednesday night for their bio-metric verification at their native town of Ahmedpur East.

He said Ogra withdrew the cheques and carried out bio-metric verification to ensure that the compensation amount was being given to the rightpersons.

The recipients included the heirs of 183 deceased victims of the blast and 57 injured people. Each of the heirs was given Rslm cheque, while the injured got Rs500,000 each.

According to the AC, the bio-metric veriñcation process of the legal heirs of those who died in the tragedy will start on Friday and isexpected to be completed on Saturday. Ogra team was being assisted in the process by revenue officials, he added.

After the bio-metric verification, the recipients of the cheques could be able to collect the payments from their respective banks from Ogra`s bank account.

KILLED: A couple was killed when the motorcycle they were riding was hit by a speeding trailer on Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar (KLP) Road near Ahmedpur East, about 50kms from here today.

According to police sources, after the accident, the trailer driver managed to flee the spot.

The patrol police with the help of the National Highway and Motorway Police were looking for the driver.