KARACHI: Two commuters lost their lives on Sunday after being struck by a trailer in the city’s New Chali area, marking yet another fatal incident involving a heavy vehicle on the metropolis’s roads.

Police identified the deceased as Zaid and Noor Muhammad, both residents of Lyari’s Usmanabad. The two friends had gone out for a ride when their motorcycle was hit by a trailer near New Chali.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Asad Raza said that the trailer has been taken into custody and its driver arrested.

Family members said Noor Muhammad worked in the utensil trade at Jodia Bazaar, while Zaid was a labourer in the fisheries sector.

The deceased youths were friends and had left home on a motorcycle for a ride, according to relatives of the victims.

Family members lamented the lack of safety on the city’s roads, saying that heavy vehicle drivers are killing citizens every day, and no one is stopping them.

The incident comes just a day after a four-year-old boy was crushed to death by a speeding water tanker in Baldia Town. The child, Affan, had been playing near a local playground when he was run over. His uncle later claimed the tanker operators had illegally occupied the area.

Karachi has witnessed a surge in traffic accidents, particularly those involving heavy vehicles. So far in 2025, over 250 people have lost their lives in road crashes — at least 70 of them in collisions with tankers and trailers.

The mounting death toll prompted the Sindh government to impose a daytime ban on the movement of heavy vehicles within the city. Authorities also introduced mandatory fitness certifications for commercial vehicles, but critics argue that enforcement remains weak.

Earlier this week, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, other leaders and ANP Sindh President Shahi Syed met to discuss the deteriorating law and order situation in the city, following a series of deadly traffic accidents and retaliatory torching of heavy vehicles.

Siddiqui lamented that police have been indifferent to this situation because they mostly remain busy checking motorcyclists on the roads. People are left with no choice but to resort to protest when they see the law does not provide any relief to them, he added.

MQM-P senior leader and Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal cautioned against giving undue ethnic colour to the RTAs in Karachi involving dumpers and tankers, saying that this is mainly an administrative issue.

Syed condemned the road accidents in the city due to reckless driving. He said people should not violently react to such tragic incidents.