A bus that plunged off a bridge and caught fire in southwest Pakistan claimed the lives of at least 40 passengers, a government official said on Sunday, January 29.
At the scene of the tragedy, Hamza Anjum, a senior official of the Lasbela district in the Balochistan province, remarked, “The dead bodies are beyond recognition.”
The bus, which was carrying 48 passengers with three survivors rescued, struck a pillar on the bridge and veered off course earlier on Sunday, according to Anjum.
It had been travelling overnight between Balochistan’s provincial capital of Quetta and the southern port city of Karachi.
Anjum stated, “It is feared that the driver may have fallen asleep,” and added that it was possible the driver had been speeding during the long-distance journey.
He stated, “We will investigate the causes of the accident,” and added that DNA tests would be performed to identify the remains that had been “badly mutilated.”
Pakistan has a terrible track record for road safety due to its ramshackle motorways, inadequate safety regulations, and irresponsible driving.
Due to frequent overcrowding on passenger buses and a lack of widespread use of seatbelts, single vehicle collisions regularly result in high mortality tolls.
A minibus that was traveling through southern Pakistan collided with a deep, waterlogged ditch in November, killing 20 people, 11 of them were children.
And in August of last year, an oil tanker and bus collision on the outskirts of Multan also resulted in the deaths of 20 people.
More than 27,000 people, according to estimates from the World Health Organization, died on Pakistani roads in 2018.
Author- Roberta Appiah
