QUETTA: As many as 18 passengers died and seven others sustained multiple injuries when a passenger bus plunged into a gorge in Qilla Saifullah district of Balochistan on Wednesday.
According to the district’s deputy commissioner, the ill-fated passenger van was on the way to Zhob from Loralai when it overturned near Akhtarzai due to speeding. Resultantly, 18 passengers dead on the spot while seven others sustained multiple injuries.
On information, rescue teams rushed to the scene and shifted the bodies and injured to a nearby hospital. Identities of the dead and injured persons could not be ascertained immediately and the police, however, launched an investigation into the accident.
According to rescue sources, women and children among nine of the dead belonged to the same family.
The rescue operation was underway to retrieve the bodies from the gorge, said District Deputy Commissioner Hafiz Muhammad Qasim.
Immediately after the accident was reported, condolences started pouring in. President Arif Alvi and FM Bilawal expressed grief over the incident. On March 28, at least seven people died while eight others injured when a van they were travelling in plunged into a ravine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Upper Dir district.
According to police, the accident took place in the district’s Patrak area
