LAHORE - Angry mob tried to set a bus on fire on Friday shortly after a schoolboy was crushed to death under its wheels near Akbar Chowk in Johar Town area of Lahore.
Shahzaib, 14, was about to aboard a passenger bus when the driver accelerated the vehicle in haste. “As a result, Shahzaib fell on road and the bus ran over him,” an eyewitness, Muhammad Junaid, told the media at the crime scene.
The 8th class student of a government high school was rushed to the Jinnah Hospital, where he was pronounced as brought dead. Resident of Liaqatabad, Shahzaib, was on his way home when the mishap took place.
Whereas, the bus driver managed to escape from the scene, however, the police have arrested the bus conductor and are investigating. A case has also been registered against the bus driver.
While protesting against the death, dozens of people mostly students smashed the windscreens of the bus. They also chanted slogans against the Punjab government and tried to set the bus ablaze. In the meantime, the police reached the spot and managed to control the angry mob, protesting the kid’s death.
Many emotional scenes were witnessed outside the Emergency Department of the Jinnah Hospital when Shahzaib’s family members including his mother reached there. The ill-fated mother lost her mental balance after witnessing the body of her young son, who left for the school in the morning.
Deaths of schoolchildren in road mishaps are not rare in this populous province of Punjab, where students move to schools on public transport. The bus drivers also dodge students waiting for transport at bus stops because they travel free of cost.
Clashes between the students and bus drivers are also common in the province which is facing dearth of transport facilities.
Last November, three schoolchildren were killed and several others injured when a bus plunged into a drain near Lahore’s Rohi Nullah.