In the early hours of Friday, a speeding bus carrying more passengers veered off the highway and fell into a rocky gorge in south-western Pakistan. Forty people were killed and eight others were injured in the incident, one of the worst road accidents in recent years.
Balochistan government spokesman Shahid Rind said the bus went out of control and fell into a ditch in ‘Dana Sar’, a remote area near the border of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
The bus was overcrowded
He told that not only were his own passengers in the bus, but there were also passengers of another bus which had broken down, due to which the bus was overcrowded. Rind said rescue workers were working to identify those killed in the crash.
One of the injured admitted to the hospital told local media that when the driver stopped the bus to pick up passengers of another bus that had broken down (which was going to Peshawar), some passengers protested. An argument then broke out and one of the passengers allegedly grabbed the driver by his neck, he said. Moments later, the driver lost control of the bus and the bus fell into a ditch.
The incident could not be independently confirmed and police said they were still investigating. Regional government official Hazrat Wali Kakar said rescue workers took the injured and the dead to nearby hospitals. Rescue officials said that there were 48 passengers on the bus at the time of the accident.