40 Killed, 8 Injured as Passenger Bus Plunges Into Ravine in Pakistan

A damaged passenger bus lies in a rocky ravine after a deadly crash in Pakistan’s Dana Sar area, where officials reported 40 people killed and eight others injured. At least 40 people were killed and eight others injured after a passenger bus veered off a mountain road and plunged into a ravine in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, officials said. The bus was traveling from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, to Peshawar when it crashed in the mountainous Dana Sar area of Zhob district, according to local authorities. Sanaullah Shirani, head of the district emergency center, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the bus fell approximately 21 to 24 meters into the ravine. Shahid Rind, spokesperson for the Balochistan provincial government, said preliminary findings indicate the driver lost control of the speeding bus near the border with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Rind told The Associated Press (AP) that the vehicle was overloaded after passengers from another bus that had broken down along the route were transferred onto it. Mohammad Nasir, a police official, told dpa, the German news agency, that excessive speed was likely a contributing factor. He added that authorities have opened an investigation to determine the exact cause of the crash. Rescue teams from both Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were dispatched to the scene. However, the difficult terrain has complicated efforts to recover bodies and evacuate the injured. Fazaluddin, a spokesperson for the rescue service, said emergency workers were using cutting equipment and heavy machinery to reach passengers trapped inside the wreckage. Authorities are also working to identify those killed in the crash. Deadly road accidents are common in Pakistan due to speeding, reckless driving, poorly maintained vehicles, overloaded transport, and weak enforcement of traffic regulations. In May, at least 17 people were killed and five injured when two passenger buses collided on a highway in northwestern Pakistan. The post 40 Killed, 8 Injured as Passenger Bus Plunges Into Ravine in Pakistan appeared first on Khaama Press.