At least 16 people, including three children and four women, died when a passenger vehicle rolled down a link road to Batote-Doda highway in Doda district on Tuesday. Doda district senior superintendent of police Mumtaz Ahmad said the vehicle rolled 500 feet down on the Batote-Doda highway from a link road at around 2.45pm. The vehicle was carrying 17 people against its capacity of 11. Officials said the SUV was headed for Gowa village of Marmat from Kleeni. “Prima facie, it appears that the driver failed to negotiate a blind curve, leading to the accident. The possibility that he was on the phone while driving can also not be ruled out. He died in the accident,” the SSP said. “The lone survivor, a man identified as Taimor, has been referred to the government medical college and hospital in Jammu for specialized treatment,” said the SSP. Doda town resident Mohammad Rashid said, “Most of the vehicles here are old. The roads are bad and no one pays any attention to overloading. Most of the drivers also are untrained…We are at the mercy of God.” Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Firdous Tak said, “Overloading, no crash barriers, bad roads and inadequate buses remain four prime reasons for frequent road accidents in the hilly Doda region.”
