ISLAMABAD: A trailer struck a car on the Hazara Motorway near Shah Maqsood Interchange on Tuesday, killing five members of the same family, police said.
A Motorway Police spokesperson said the speeding trailer rammed a Toyota Corolla from behind, pushing it into another trailer. The impact killed all five passengers — three men and two women — at the scene.
Police identified the victims as 39-year-old Raza Saleem of Gilgit and his family. They were travelling from Gilgit to Rawalpindi when the accident occurred.
Rescue 1122 and Motorway Police teams arrived shortly after the crash and moved the bodies to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Havelian.
Officials blamed the collision on the trailer driver’s reckless speed and urged heavy vehicle operators to drive with caution on the busy highway.
Pakistan faces one of the highest rates of road accidents in South Asia, with more than 30,000 crashes reported annually and nearly 6,000 deaths each year. Over the past five years, the country has averaged around 1,101 accidents per day, underscoring the scale of the crisis.
Punjab consistently emerges as the most affected province, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while major urban centers such as Karachi and Lahore record hundreds of fatalities annually.
Experts link the persistently high toll to overspeeding, reckless driving, weak enforcement of traffic laws, and poor road infrastructure, with motorcycles accounting for a significant share of crashes.
