Earlier on Friday (May 3rd), a bus plunged into a gorge on a Pakistan-China highway in the northern region of Pakistan. A local government spokesperson stated that at least 20 people have died, with 21 others injured and taken to hospitals.
According to reports from the Associated Press, Senior Police Officer Fayaz Ahmed mentioned that the accident occurred on the Karakoram Highway in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan, as the bus was traveling from Rawalpindi to Hunza.
The mountainous highway connects Pakistan and China and is known as the “China-Pakistan Friendship Highway.” Hunza is a popular tourist destination, especially during the warmer months.
Faizullah Firaq, a spokesperson for the local government authorities, informed Reuters that the accident resulted in at least 20 fatalities and 21 injuries. Immediate rescue operations were initiated by the government to evacuate all the injured and transport them to hospitals.
Images released by local media depicted the twisted wreckage of an orange bus at the bottom of a rocky gorge near a riverbank.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi expressed condolences for the accident and prayed for the swift recovery of the injured.
Shoukat Riaz, a rescue official from the Diamer region, as reported by Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, stated that the bus lost control near the Gunar Farm. Subsequently, the bus overturned and slid down near the banks of the Indus River. The accident occurred around 5:30 AM on Friday morning.
Fatal road accidents are prevalent in Pakistan, where adherence to traffic rules is often lacking, and the road conditions in many rural areas are poor.
The region faces an additional risk for travelers due to attacks by armed militants, targeting Chinese-supported dams and hydroelectric infrastructure projects. On March 26th, a suicide car bombing incident in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province claimed the lives of at least 5 Chinese citizens and their local driver. This marked the third significant attack within a week targeting Chinese projects under the Belt and Road Initiative in Pakistan.