14 killed, dozens injured in Pakistan highway accident
Islamabad, Feb 20 (EFE).- At least 14 people were killed and dozens injured in a Pakistan bus crash early on Monday, police said.
The 49-seater bus was carrying people returning from a wedding party when it overturned on the Lahore-Islamabad highway near Kallar Kahar, police spokesperson Saqib Waheed told EFE.
“The bus crossed the road divider and collided with three other vehicles coming from the opposite side,” Waheed said.
The vehicles involved in the accident fell into a ravine, said the spokesperson.
“A total of 14 people have died so far, while 63 are injured and some are critical,” Waheed said.
He said rescuers pulled the vehicles out of the ravine.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his grief over the accident and directed authorities to provide the best medical facilities to the injured.
Pakistan has one of the highest traffic accident rates in the world, attributed to the poor condition of roads and vehicles and severely overcrowded public transport.
According to government data, around 30,000 people die in road accidents annually in the country.
Earlier in the month, at least 25 people were killed and several others injured in a collision between a passenger bus and a car in Pakistan’s Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
In January, at least 40 people were killed after a passenger bus carrying diesel on the roof fell into a ravine and crashed in southern Pakistan.
In November 2014, at least 54 people died after an overcrowded bus collided with a truck in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh.
In April 2014, at least 42 people were killed in southern Pakistan after a speeding bus traveling to Karachi collided with a tractor-trailer.
A speeding bus caught fire after colliding with an oil tanker near Multan in south Punjab province, killing 20 people in 2022. EFE
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