At least 40 people were killed and eight others injured when a passenger bus travelling from Quetta to Peshawar plunged into a ravine in Balochistan’s Sherani district on Friday morning, officials said.
“A passenger bus travelling from Quetta to Peshawar plunged into a deep ravine in the mountainous Dhana Sar area,” Sanaullah Sherani, head of Zhob district’s emergency centre, told AFP.
“The bus fell approximately 70 to 80 feet (21 to 24 metres) into the ravine,” he added.
The bus was speeding when the driver lost control early on Friday, sending it into the rocky ravine in a remote area near the border between Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind told The Associated Press.
Sherani and Rind put the death toll at 40, with at least eight other passengers injured.
Officials said the bus had initially left Quetta with 36 passengers but later picked up travellers from another bus that had broken down along the route, increasing the number of people on board.
Rescue teams from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were deployed to the scene, although the rugged terrain complicated the operation.
“As the accident occurred in a rugged mountainous area, rescue teams faced significant difficulties during the initial phase of the operation,” Sherani told AFP.
Road accidents are common in Balochistan, where poor infrastructure, weak enforcement of traffic laws, speeding, reckless driving and limited road-safety measures are frequently cited as contributing factors.