Bus Accident In Pakistan Kills 40

At least 40 people have been killed after a passenger bus fell into a ravine in Lasbela, Pakistan on Sunday morning.

Gatekeepers News reports that the accident left  four others injured after a speeding mini bus crashed into the pillar of a bridge in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, according to the police.

The bus “quickly caught fire and they burned to death,” said Mohamad Abdullah, a police officer at the provincial police control center.

Hamza Anjum, Lasbela’s Assistant Commissioner, told Dawn, a local news site, that the bus caught fire after it crashed into the ravine.

A ravine is a narrow steep-sided valley that is larger than a gully and smaller than a canyon.

About 48 passengers were in the vehicle at the time of the accident, on the way from Balochistan’s capital of Quetta to the southern city of Karachi.

“Due to speeding, the coach crashed into the pillar of a bridge while taking a U-turn near Lasbela. The vehicle subsequently careened into a ravine and then caught fire,” Dawn quoted Anjum as saying.

“It is feared that the driver may have fallen asleep,” News18, another news site, quoted the commissioner as saying.

Anjum said the bodies were burnt beyond recognition, adding that DNA tests would be used to identify the remaining victims “badly mutilated”.

“We will investigate the causes of the accident,” he said.

Three people, including a child and a woman, had earlier been rescued alive. However, one of the injured persons died from injuries on the way to the hospital.

Anjum said the number of casualties could further increase to 48, adding that a rescue operation was ongoing.