BAHAWALPUR, Dec 3: A truck driver and his helper drowned while another helper was injured when the loaded vehicle plunged into the Bahawal link canal after its damaged bridge collapsed at the Jugaitpeer livestock farm near Khairpur Tamewali, about 48 kilometres from here, on Saturday.
As the truck (LHH-9653) coming towards Yazman from Lahore reached the bridge, it rolled into the canal. Driver Sharafat Ali and his nephew Masood Ahmad (the conductor) died on the spot while their helper suffered injuries.
The canal bridge has been in a dilapidated condition for the past several months and the department concerned has failed to repair it. The damaged portion was covered with bushes.
After the accident, a number of people thronged the road and protested against apathy of the authorities concerned. They threw the traffic out of gear for over an hour. The Khairpur tehsil nazim assured the protesters that the bridge would be reconstructed at the earliest.
District Nazim Tariq Cheema and DCO Muhammad Ashraf arranged a crane to pull the truck out of the canal.
The Yazman police registered a case and started investigation.
CLOSURE: The district offices of the Public Safety and Police Complaint Commission have been closed across the Punjab on Saturday.
The government had directed their closure after the completion of their four-year tenure.
The public safety commission’s district offices were set up after the introduction of the devolution plan by President Gen Pervez Musharraf in 2001.
Bahawalpur DCO Muhammad Ashraf withdrew the staff and official vehicles from the chairman’s office.
RESULTS: The Islamia University Bahawalpur announced on Saturday the results of B. Pharmacy final professional annual examination of 2003.
According to a notification, some 24 out of the 78 candidates have been declared successful, showing a percentage of 30.77.
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