Pakistan: 40 dead, eight injured as bus plunges into ravine near Balochistan-KP border

Quetta, July 3 (IANS) At least 40 people were killed and eight others injured after a bus fell into a ravine in the Danasar area on the Sherani–Zhob highway near the border between Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces on Friday, local media reported.

The bus was heading from Quetta to Peshawar when the accident took place. As many as 40 bodies were recovered from the site of the accident while eight injured people were taken to the Trauma Centre in Zhob, leading Pakistani daily The Express Tribune reported citing the Medical Emergency Response Centre (MERC).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmad Faizi told the newspaper that the bus was carrying 48 passengers when the accident occurred near Zhob. Faizi said eight injured passengers were first given medical assistance at the site of the incident before being taken to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital in Zhob.

Rescue teams and ambulances from the district administration in Sherani immediately rushed to the site of the incident. Faizi said Rescue 1122 personnel are working in coordination with Emergency Services Balochistan and other relevant agencies to provide assistance to the injured passengers and support the families of the victims.

Authorities said that a probe has been initiated to determine the cause of the accident, The Express Tribune reported.

In May, at least 16 people were killed and seven others injured after a passenger coach collided with a bus parked by the roadside in Khoro Kotay Saeedabad area of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The police said the passenger coach heading to Swat collided with a bus parked by the roadside after it faced a mechanical fault. Following the incident, the motorway police, Rescue 1122 officials and local resident rushed to the spot and shifted the injured people and bodies of the deceased to the hospital, Dawn reported.

On May 10, at least five people were killed and 10 others injured after a passenger van fell into a ravine in Swat’s Charbagh tehsil, according to rescue officials.

Pakistan’s News International reported that victims were from a family and were heading from Adu to Ganajir for a wedding ceremony when the vehicle met with the accident, apparently due to a break failure.

–IANS

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