Probe body blames contractor for Khairpur accident

ISLAMABAD: The inquiry committee constituted by the Federal Ombudsman to probe the reasons behind the fatal accident at Khairpur on November 11, 2014 which claimed 57 lives, has suggested that besides blacklisting the contractor who was repairing the road, compensation to the tune of Rs200,000 to family of each deceased and Rs100,000 to each injured passenger be granted and the same be recovered from the contractor for not fulfilling the agreement of cautioning the plying vehicles about a hump on the road.
A tragic accident took place between a Karachi-bound bus coming from Swat and a truck near Theri bypass, Khairpur Sindh in the early hours of Tuesday, November 11, 2014 that claimed the lives of 57 passengers including the driver and injuries to 21 others. Federal Ombudsman Salman Farooqui took suo moto notice of the issue and constituted an inquiry committee comprising Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, former federal secretary, General (retd) Haroon Sikandar Pasha, Adviser Member Former D.G. (NAB) Sindh and M.A. Soomro, DG (In-charge), Member Regional Office Sukkur.
The inquiry committee has also indicted the National Highway Authority and officials of National Highway and Motorway Police for committing criminal negligence in not cautioning about the hump on the road, which led to the accident. “The entire episode has shown sheer lack of vigilance, neglect of duty and apathy towards safety of passengers and inaction in averting a possible catastrophe including contractor, consultant, NHA and NH&MP. It is indeed deplorable that NHA being custodian of the project did not provide effective oversight and monitoring to the project despite the fact that there is abundant clarity in providing all necessary aids for visibility and putting in place measures for safety of passengers while initiating repair work and creating diversions. The contract agreement provides for specific requirements of signage with specifications including colour, size, thickness etc. for diversions and general safety, which were not adhered to in this case. All such requirements are included in the cost of the project.”
The committee noted that upon its arrival at the site of the accident, the authorities concerned had placed reflectors in the project area along with flags close to the diversion on both sides of the road, which clearly establishes that it was a reactive move and was not in place to avert the disaster. The committee views that negligence and dereliction of duty has been established on the part of NHA, NH&MP and the contractor. Therefore penalties may be imposed as under; a) The contractor ZEPL may be blacklisted; b) Compensation to the tune of Rs200,000 to family of each deceased and Rs100,000 to each injured passenger be granted and the same be recovered from the contractor. In case the amount cannot be recovered from the contractor, the NHA should arrange funds for the purpose; c) Disciplinary action be taken against all officials involved including those in NHA; DG, GM and Director (Maintenance) and Sector In-charge of NH&MP. iii) The concerned authorities may issue strict instructions to obviate the possibility of recurrence of such incidents in the future.” It is noteworthy that this is the first time that FIR has been lodged against a Government institution for criminal negligence with regard to a road accident.
Regarding what happened to the fateful bus throughout its journey, the committee wrote: “The chronology of events is that a bus (Al-Masoom Coach) No. JB 5190 originated from Bahrain in Swat district of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa at around 5 a.m. on November 9, 2014 bound for Karachi. The bus got refueled with 292 liters of diesel and set off via Mardan, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, D.I. Khan, D.G. Khan, Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Pannu Aqil, Sukkur, Khairpur. The bus made its first stop at Talagang, Chakwal at 1300 hours on the same day. It entered the Sukkur area at around 0205 hours on 11.11.2014. An officer of NH&MP stopped the bus in the beat 25 Daharki section and upon observing that the vehicle had more passengers than its seating capacity and that children were lying on the floor of the bus, issued the driver a ticket imposing a fine of Rs750/- for overloading, as the bus had more passengers than its capacity. Upon issuance of ticket the bus resumed its journey. At 0415 hours, the bus stopped at Al-Sajjad Hotel where only the driver alighted and had a cup of tea. After 20-25 minute stopover the bus again resumed its journey. Barely 3 km into the journey, the bus cruising between 80 and 90 km per hour, entered the damaged section of the road. The bus hit a hump on the road, which was created as a roadblock to divert traffic. The sudden impact upon hitting the hump caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle and the bus ended up on the northern side of the road where it collided with a north-bound truck loaded with coal.”