What happened
A mini-truck carrying 23 people from Islamabad to Faisalabad for a funeral fell from the Galapur Bangla bridge into a dry canal in Kot Momin tehsil, Sargodha district, in the early hours of Saturday 17 January 2026, killing 14 people and injuring nine others, according to Rescue 1122.
Rescue 1122 said the motorway had been closed because of heavy fog, so the vehicle took a local route, and that the truck “lost control because of poor visibility” before it went off the bridge into the canal. The canal was dry, but passengers became stuck beneath the truck when it overturned, the service said. The incident was reported at 1:48am, after which a rescue operation was launched immediately.
Six children were among the dead, Dawn reported. The injured were given first aid at the scene and then taken to Civil Hospital Kot Momin along with the bodies, while three of the wounded were later shifted to Kot Momin Tehsil Headquarters Hospital.
Earlier that day, sections of the M-1, M-2, M-3, M-4 and M-11 motorways were closed because of dense fog, according to the National Highways and Motorway Police.
Why it matters
The crash has renewed scrutiny of winter road safety in Punjab, where dense fog routinely forces motorway closures and pushes traffic onto secondary roads. Dawn’s follow-up noted that the Ghalapur canal has a dangerous turn and that there is no lighting on the bridge, and that a vehicle had fallen into the same canal a few days earlier.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif expressed grief over the loss of life and directed the commissioner to submit a detailed report on the circumstances of the accident and the assistance provided, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan. She also urged authorities to enforce safety protocols on roads and near water channels.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif separately offered condolences and prayed for the recovery of the injured, Radio Pakistan reported. The prime minister directed authorities to ensure traffic laws and safety measures were implemented on national highways and to monitor fog-related precautions.
What is still uncertain
The casualty figures were compiled by Rescue 1122 and carried by Dawn on the day of the crash and in its next-day newspaper report; no separate district administration update naming all the dead was published by the editorial cutoff. The identities of most of the deceased, and the precise sequence by which the truck left the bridge, had not been made public. It was also not immediately clear what disciplinary or regulatory follow-up would result from the chief minister’s request for a report.
Sources & reporting notes
This article summarises published reporting and is not eyewitness reconstruction. Sources were reviewed on 17 January 2026.
- Dawn — 24 dead, over 20 injured in separate road accidents in Punjab, Balochistan17 January 2026 · Day-of reporting by Zaheer Abbas Sial, Behram Baloch and the News Desk with the Rescue 1122 statement on the Sargodha canal crash.
- Dawn (newspaper edition) — 24 killed in Sargodha, Gwadar accidents18 January 2026 · Follow-up with the Ghalapur bridge lighting and earlier-canal-fall context and the Punjab chief minister's directive.
- Geo News — At least 24 killed in two separate road accidents in Punjab, Balochistan17 January 2026 · Pakistan broadcaster's coverage of the Sargodha truck crash and the Ormara coach accident.
