Pakistan officials have reported that a passenger bus crashed into a valley on a highway in southwest Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of 40 people and injuring 8 others. This is one of the most severe traffic accidents in the country in recent years.
The spokesperson for the Balochistan provincial government, Shahid Rind, stated that the bus lost control and plunged into the valley in Dana Sar, a remote area near the border of Balochistan province and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Rind mentioned that besides its own passengers, the bus also carried passengers from another faulty public bus, leading to overcrowding on the bus.
Rescue personnel indicated that there were 48 passengers on the bus at the time of the incident.
“A passenger bus traveling from Quetta to Peshawar crashed into a deep gorge in the mountainous Dana Sar area,” said Sanaullah Sherani, head of the emergency center in Zhob, to AFP on Friday.
Sherani added, “The bus fell from a height of about 70 to 80 feet (21 to 24 meters) into the valley.”
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari extended condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured. He instructed relevant departments to ensure that the injured receive the best medical treatment.
Police officer Mohamed Nasir informed DPA that overspeeding may have been the cause of the accident. Authorities have initiated an investigation to determine the exact reason.
Fazal Din, a spokesperson for the rescue department, informed DPA that rescue teams are using cutting tools and machinery to extract bodies from the bus and rescue the injured.
Due to lax traffic law enforcement, overspeeding, poor road safety standards, and reckless driving, road traffic accidents are frequent in Pakistan. In May of this year, in northwest Pakistan, a minibus collided with a bus parked on the highway, resulting in 17 deaths and 5 injuries.