Islamabad - Two persons including a 75-year-old woman were crushed under the wheels of a burning van at Pir Sohawa on Sunday.
According to details, 20 members of a Karachi-based family were going to Pir Sohawa on a picnic trip in a rented van. The van started jerking forward when it reached a gentle ramp due to overloading. The driver asked the family members to get down from the vehicle but even then it could not move forward. Rather, it caught fire and compelled the driver to jump out of the van. As the van started rolling backward, one of the family members, Hassan Khan, 22, attempted to rescue the aged woman, Mehreen w/o Tahir who was in line of the out-of-control van. Both were crushed under the wheels of the burning vehicle and their bodies were mutilated due to blaze. A police spokesman said that the van caught fire probably due to faulty battery wires in it. He said that 12 other passengers including five children were rescued. Police and rescue teams reached the spot and shifted the dead bodies to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. The driver managed to escape from the scene.