Disasters & Accidents

Authorities work to identify Pakistan bus crash victims

Islamabad, Jan 30 (EFE).- The victims of a bus crash in southern Pakistan were being identified by DNA testing at a Karachi hospital on Monday, an official said.

At least 41 people were killed while three others were injured when a passenger bus carrying diesel on the roof fell into a ravine and caught fire in Lasbela district of Balochistan province on Sunday.

“DNA samples of 38 dead bodies have been taken at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and samples from families are still being collected,” a local government administrator, Hamza Anjum, told EFE.

Anjum said it would take two to three days to complete the DNA process.

He added that three bodies that were recognizable were handed over to their families later on Sunday.

Two injured, including a nine-year-old girl, have been discharged from the hospital while one injured has been shifted to a trauma center in Karachi, the official said.

A total of 44 passengers were on board the bus which was traveling from Quetta to Karachi when it hit a bridge safety railing at 3:30 am on Sunday morning.

Anjum had told EFE earlier that after a sharp turn, the bus rammed into the safety railing of a bridge and fell upside down in a 50-feet deep ravine and caught fire.

Authorities shifted 38 burned bodies to Karachi for identification through DNA tests as they were beyond recognition.

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.

The last major accident occurred in November 2014, when at least 54 people died after an overcrowded bus collided with a truck in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh.

In April of that year, 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

aa/pd

Related Articles

Back to top button