KHUZDAR: Four members of a family, including a father and son, were killed on Saturday in a Khuzdar road accident, when a speeding passenger coach collided with their car in the Chakalko area of Khuzdar district, police said.
The victims belonged to Baghbana and were identified as Muhammad Aslam Notani, Bilal Ahmed Notani, Abdul Ghani Notani and Abdul Waheed Musiani. All four died at the scene of the crash.
Speeding blamed for the Khuzdar road accident
According to police, the coach was travelling at high speed when it rammed into the car. The impact was severe, and rescue officials said the victims had little chance of survival.
Soon after receiving information about the accident, local administration officials and police reached the spot. They shifted the bodies to a nearby hospital, where legal formalities were completed before the bodies were handed over to the bereaved family.
Police said the accident appeared to have been caused by speeding. An investigation has been opened to fix responsibility for the crash.
A highway with a grim record
The Quetta-Karachi highway, which runs through Khuzdar district, has one of the worst road safety records in the country. Long straight stretches tempt drivers into excessive speed, while poor road conditions and dangerous overtaking turn routine journeys into fatal ones.
Balochistan’s highways have seen repeated tragedies of this kind. Coaches and trucks moving between Quetta and Karachi share narrow, often damaged roads with cars, motorcycles and slow-moving local traffic. Night driving, driver fatigue and overloaded vehicles add to the danger.
The human and economic toll of such crashes is enormous. Pakistan’s traffic accident costs run into hundreds of billions of rupees each year, a burden that falls hardest on poor families who lose their breadwinners in an instant.
Police in the province have repeatedly appealed to motorists to observe speed limits and avoid reckless overtaking. Enforcement, however, remains patchy on the long inter-city routes, where checkposts are few and far between.
Two bodies found in separate incidents
In a separate development on the same day, police recovered the bodies of two unidentified men from different locations in Khuzdar and Kalat districts, officials said.
In Khuzdar, the body of a man was found in the Ornach area. Police took custody of the body and shifted it to a hospital for identification.
Separately, the body of an unidentified man bearing signs of torture was recovered from the Chhappar area of Kalat district. Police have started an investigation into both recoveries.
The district has also seen militant violence and abductions in recent months, adding to the strain on local law enforcement. The provincial government has ordered expanded surveillance in Quetta as part of a wider security push, though rural districts like Khuzdar and Kalat remain difficult to police.
The accident was reported from Khuzdar by Dawn correspondent Abdul Wahid Shahwani. The original report carries further details of the incident.
FAQ
Where did the Khuzdar accident happen?
The collision took place in the Chakalko area of Khuzdar district, on the highway connecting Quetta with Karachi, when a speeding coach hit a car.
Who were the victims?
Four members of one family from Baghbana: Muhammad Aslam Notani, Bilal Ahmed Notani, Abdul Ghani Notani and Abdul Waheed Musiani, including a father and son.
What caused the crash?
Police said the accident appeared to have been caused by speeding by the coach driver. An investigation is under way.
Why are Balochistan’s highways so dangerous?
Speeding, dangerous overtaking, poor road conditions, driver fatigue and weak enforcement combine to make the province’s long inter-city highways among the deadliest in Pakistan.
