KARACHI: Four people were killed as rainfall, including hail, was reported in several areas of the metropolitan city on Tuesday.
According to officials, multiple vehicle crashes occurred on the M9 motorway due to slippery roads.
Motorways Police Additional Inspector General Munir Ahmad Shaikh told Dawn that six vehicles were involved in the incident as the M9 was slippery near DHA City in Gadap.
He said that due to the slippery road, there was a chain of accidents involving a passenger bus, two trailers, a van, a dumper truck and a Mazda truck.
He said that six injured people were shifted to the hospital. A spokesperson for the Edhi Foundation said that four of the injured succumbed to their injuries during treatment. He added that the bodies were moved to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for legal formalities.
Rainfall accompanied by hail was reported in Gulistan-i-Johar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Askari IV and other parts of the city.
According to the Met department data till 8pm, the highest amount of rainfall, 20.8 millimetres, was recorded at Jinnah Terminal, while 12mm was recorded in old airport area and 8.5mm was recorded in Nazimabad.
Further, 6.9mm was recorded in Saadi Town, 5.8mm at Met Complex, 5.4mm at Orangi Town while 2.3mm was recorded at North Karachi.
Bahria Town received 2mm of rainfall, while Surjani Town received 1mm.
Earlier in the day, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) in a weather forecast said that “a westerly wave is affecting the central and upper parts of the country”.
It predicted partly cloudy weather with “chances of light to moderate intensity rainfall with thunderstorm” on Tuesday, with the maximum temperature expected to remain between 25-27 °C, while the minimum temperature is expected to fall to 18.6 °C.
According to the forecast, Wednesday (February 18) and Thursday (Feb 19) would be “sunny days”.
For the rest of the province, PMD said, “thunderstorm/rain of light to moderate intensity may occur in Dadu, Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin, Jamshoro, Sukkur, Larkana, Kambar Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Ghotki, Kashmore, Khairpur districts”.
“Gusty/dust-raising winds [are] also likely during the period,” PMD added.
