The site of the crash in the Lasbela District
(Picture: via REUTERS)At least 40 people died after a bus crashed into a pillar and plunged off a bridge in Pakistan on Sunday.
The horrific accident occurred as the bus was carrying 44 passengers from Quetta in Balochistan province to Karachi in neighbouring Sindh province. The accident was near the town of Bela, in Lasbela district.
Hamza Anjum Nadeem, assistant commissioner in Bela, said the bodies of 40 people, including women and children, were recovered. Four injured passengers were rescued.
“The accident happened due to over-speeding and the bus crashed into the pillar of a bridge. It caught fire soon after falling (off the bridge),” he said.
Images from the crash site showed what was left of the charred bus lying near the bridge. The recovered remains of some of the dead are lined up in rows nearby.
Nadeem said the bodies were charred beyond recognition and are being transported to Karachi for DNA sampling. After identification, the bodies will be handed over to the victims’ relatives.
Firefighters and workers from the Lasbela Welfare Trust and the Edhi Welfare Foundation carried out the rescue operation.
The chief minister of Balochistan, Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, expressed his sorrow for the loss of life and ordered authorities to provide the best medical facilities to the injured.
In a separate incident in Pakistan’s northwest, at least 10 students who were on a picnic drowned after their boat capsized in a lake on Sunday, police said.
The children, from a religious school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, were visiting a lake at Tanda Dam.
Local police official Qismat Khan said 25 students were on the boat. Six were rescued, and three of them are in critical condition. The dead pupils were aged between 11 to 13. Nine children remain missing.
Khan said an earlier group of 16 students was able to cross the lake. But the same boat capsised while taking 25 on the next trip. “As per initial reports, overloading resulted in the overturning of the boat,” he said.
