A deadly collision between passenger bus and truck occurred near Tehri spot of Khairpur in wee hours of the day. The bus was hailing from Swat to Karachi. According to initial reports, eye witnesses said the horrible accident took place due to negligence of bus driver, who drifted off while driving.
The bus caught fire after the fatal accident and collision between the vehicles was so strong that four dozen people died on the spot due to intensity of the crash.
The truck was filled with coal. The dead and the injured persons were immediately moved to Khairpur Civil Hospital.
The officials at the hospital said several injured were in critical condition. Medical superintendent Khairpur hospital said most of the victims belonged to Swat.
AFP adds: “The Karachi-bound passenger bus, which was coming from northwestern city of Swat went on the wrong side of the road and collided head-on with a goods container, killing 56 people,” senior local police official Nasir Aftab told AFP.
He said 18 passengers were injured in the accident, adding that those killed in the crash included 17 women and 18 children.
Pakistan has an appalling record of fatal traffic accidents due to poor roads, badly-maintained vehicles and reckless driving.
The emergency services’ recovery equipment is basic and when crashes happen away from major towns, as they often do, rescue efforts can take some time, reducing injured passengers’ chances of survival.
In April a bus smashed into a tractor-trailer in a high speed collision in Sindh, killing 42 people, while in March a horrific crash between two buses and a petrol tanker left 35 dead, with many burned alive when the fuel ignited.
The mountainous areas of Kashmir and the north, where drivers career around narrow hairpin bends over deep ravines with scant regard for safety, are particularly prone to accidents.
Three crashes in the space of 10 days in March in Kashmir and the northwest left a total of 46 people dead.
