Forty killed as overcrowded bus plunges into ravine in Pakistan's Balochistan
A speeding, overcrowded bus veered off a mountain highway in Dana Sar, near the Balochistan-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border, and fell into a rocky ravine early Friday, killing 40 people and injuring between 8 and 11 others.
The accident
A passenger bus traveling from Quetta to Peshawar or Islamabad plunged into a deep ravine in the remote Dana Sar area of southwestern Pakistan on Friday morning. The vehicle, carrying 48 people according to one report, fell from a height of over 20 metres into the rocky gorge. Forty people were killed, and between 8 and 11 others were injured, depending on the source. Among the dead were women and children, a police officer told German press agency dpa.
Cause and conditions
Local officials said the bus was speeding and overcrowded. Spokesperson Shahid Rind of the Balochistan government confirmed that the bus had also taken on passengers from another vehicle that had broken down, adding to the load.
The bus also transported passengers from another bus that had broken down. As a result, the vehicle was overcrowded.
The driver lost control on the winding mountain road, and the bus careered off the highway. Rind cited excessive speed and the extra weight as direct causes. A full investigation is pending.
Rescue and response
Emergency teams faced difficult conditions in the inaccessible, mountainous terrain. Sanaullah Sherani, head of the Zhob district emergency centre, described the scale of destruction as enormous and said the rescue operation was severely hampered.
The scale of destruction is enormous, and the rescue operation is facing serious difficulties due to the inaccessible, mountainous terrain.
The injured were taken to a local hospital for treatment. Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari expressed regret over the incident and offered condolences to the victims' families.
Road safety in Pakistan
Pakistan has a long-standing problem with fatal road accidents, especially in mountainous regions. Poor road conditions, poorly maintained vehicles, lax enforcement of traffic laws, and reckless driving are common. Government statistics show thousands of deaths each year. In May, a collision between a minibus and a bus in the northwest killed 17 people.