Rawalpindi-At least seven passengers died of burn injuries when a van caught fire owing to a short circuit in the wiring near Chahan on Chakri Road here on Tuesday, police and Rescue 1122 informed The Nation on Tuesday.

The victims were shifted to Rawal Burn Unit of Holy Family Hospital (HFH) for medical treatment where the two-year-old victim girl identified as Alisha died of burn injuries, they said.

A doctor said that initial reports suggested that the girl received about 10 per cent burn injuries but she could not survive the trauma.

According to police and Rescue 1122, a passenger van caught fire near Chahan village on Chakri Road at about 12pm. The passenger van was coming from Chakri village to Chungi No 22 in Rawalpindi with passengers on board.

They said some seven passengers sustained burnt injuries and were shifted to HFH for treatment. The other injured included Aurangzeb, Fiaz-ul Haq, Aftab, Muhammad Rafique, Muhammad Shabir, and Lal Bibi.

The condition of two passengers was stated to be critical in HFH, they added.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Saddar Circle Salim Khattak, when contacted, said that the passenger van caught fire owning to a short circuit. He said that a police team had closely examined the vehicle.

He said that Fiaz alias Faizi, the driver of the van, got injured while trying to extinguish the fire and rescue the passengers. He said that the driver was under treatment in HFH. In response to a question, DSP said that the police would lodge a criminal case against the driver of the van under relevant laws after consultations with senior officers.

DSP Salim Khattak added that the police would also obtain details from Regional Transport Authority about fitness certificate issued to the passenger van, as the RTA was responsible to regulate and examine the public transport vehicles.

Police nab five outlaws 

Police during an ongoing campaign against outlaws and illegal LPG fillers have held five persons and recovered narcotics, weapons and cylinders from their possession.

The detainees held from the limits of Police Stations City, Civil Line, Ganjmandi and Gujar Khan were identified as Hassan, Nahar, Ayaz, Qaiser and Umar. Police recovered 550 grams hashish, 15 liquor bottles and a pistol of 30-bore with five bullets from their possession. Separate cases have been registered against the detainees while further investigation was underway.

Meanwhile, a 13-member delegation of National Institute of Management (NIM) of 21st Group visited officer of Regional Police Officer (RPO) here on Tuesday.

The delegation headed by Chief Instructor Khalid Mehmood Lodhi was received by RPO Wisal Fakhar Sultan Raja while City Police Officer (CPO) Israr Ahmed Khan Abbasi, SSP (Operations) Irfan Tariq Khan, SSP Range Investigation Bureau (RIB) Sikandar Hayyat and SP Counter Terrorism Department Rawalpindi Haroon Rashid were also present on the occasion.

SSP/RIB Sikandar Hayyat briefed the officers of NIM about the operational work of police, its different wings and reforms in police department.

SP CTD also briefed the NIM officers about the performance of CTD against the menace of terrorism. RPO Wisal Fakhar Sultan Raja on behalf of police officers also answered the questions of NIM officers about the performance of police and use of latest technology in curbing crimes.