Lasbela incident: Bodies to undergo DNA verification
Rescuers carry out the body of a victim from an ambulance after it arrived in Karachi. At least 41 people were killed after a passenger minibus fell into a ravine in southwest Pakistan on Sunday morning. PHOTO: ONLINE
With several bodies in the Lasbela bus incident unidentifiable, the authorities have decided to use DNA sampling to identify them before handing over the bodies to their heirs.
Following directives from Bela Assistant Commissioner Hamza Anjum, the bodies were shifted to an Edhi Mortuary while Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) samples from 38 bodies have been taken for analysis at Karachi’s Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Complex.
The samples have been sent to Karachi University for processing. The results of the samples are expected to be ready in five days.
Only three of the 41 victims were identified. The rest were charred and mangled beyond recognition.
FIR blames
The Lasbela police have registered a case for the incident.
Registered by Lasbela SHO Malik Abdul Jabbar, the FIR blames the bus owners Zahoor and Manzoor Ahmed along with bus driver Saleem have been nominated.
They were accused of directing the bus driver to drive the vehicle full of passengers despite knowing that the bus was suffering from a technical fault.
Further the driver was accused of speeding, irresponsible driving and for endangering the lives of passengers.
Charges of murder, attempted murder, criminal negligence, pressurizing were also included in the FIR.
A statement from a passenger included in the FIR said that due to the fault, the bus kept lurching and starting and stopping.
The witness said that passengers kept urging the driver to pull over and have the vehicle fixed before going any further. But when the driver contacted the bus owner, he directed to continue the journey rather than fix it.
What happened
At least 41 people were killed and several others were injured when a passenger bus traveling from Quetta to Karachi plunged into a ravine and caught fire near the Chinki stop in the Bela area of Lasbela on Sunday morning.
The police said teams from the fire brigade, rescue services, and law-enforcement agencies arrived at the site of the accident and launched a rescue operation, but faced obstacles due to the darkness and cold weather in the morning.
Coordinator of Balochistan’s chief Minister said that 18 people seated in the bus belonged to Quetta while others from different districts of Balochistan.
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