At least 40 dead after an overcrowded bus falls into a ravine in Pakistan

At least 40 people have died and another eight have been injured this Friday after an overloaded passenger bus fell down a ravine in Pakistan, in the Dana Sar area, on the border between the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, authorities reported.

“According to initial reports, 40 people have died and another eight have been injured in the accident,” noted the spokesperson for the head of the Balochistan government, Sarfraz Bugti, in a statement.

The spokesperson confirmed that rescue efforts began shortly after the accident.

The vehicle, belonging to a local coach company, was traveling from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when it plunged into the void in a mountainous area of the route.

“According to preliminary information, in addition to its own travelers, the bus involved was also carrying passengers from another coach that had broken down, which means there were more people on the vehicle than usual,” the spokesperson indicated.

For its part, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rescue 1122 emergency service specified in another statement that 48 people were traveling on board the bus at the time of the accident.

Emergency teams arrived at the scene and transported the eight injured survivors to the District Headquarters Hospital, known as DHQ.

Traffic accidents are frequent on Pakistan’s roads, often caused by reckless driving, speeding, driver fatigue, and poor vehicle maintenance, problems exacerbated by the poor condition of some infrastructure.

At the end of May, at least 16 people died and seven were injured when a coach collided with a parked bus on a highway in Swat, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.