The highway is temporarily closed for 2 hours while emergency teams bring the fire under control; the highway is now open to traffic
A container truck carrying clothes caught fire on the Indus Highway in Dera Ismail Khan. PHOTO: EXPRESS
DERA ISMAIL KHAN:
A container truck carrying clothes caught fire on Monday on the Indus Highway near Dhorah Solhan Adda village in Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa state, destroying goods worth millions of rupees, police said.
According to police, the cause of the fire has not yet been determined. The fire ravaged the vehicle, reducing the load to ashes. Thick smoke spread across the area, completely closing the road to traffic.
Traffic on the Indus Highway, the main road connecting Peshawar to Karachi, was temporarily suspended and the road was closed for 1.5 to 2 hours as emergency services rushed to the scene to bring the fire under control.
Once the fire was extinguished, the remains of the truck were removed from the highway and the road was reopened. Authorities said no casualties had been reported so far, while an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the fire.
On April 25, at least 11 people were injured in a road accident on the Karakoram Highway in Shangla district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa state. Rescue 1122 told The Express PK Press Club that the incident occurred near Maira area in Shangla jurisdiction after dark, apparently due to poor visibility on the main highway.
Pakistan records tens of thousands of road accidents every year. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 27,000 people die on our roads each year, while hundreds of thousands are injured.
