The bus from Turbat metropolis in southern Balochistan was headed in the direction of the provincial capital of Quetta.
Islamabad, Pakistan – At the very least 28 folks have been killed in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan after a bus they have been travelling in fell right into a ravine, officers say.
The bus from Turbat metropolis in southern Balochistan was headed in the direction of the provincial capital of Quetta, about 750km (466 miles) to the north, when it crashed within the mountainous area early on Wednesday morning.
Noorullah Essazai, a authorities well being official in Washuk district the place the incident occurred, confirmed the variety of deaths to Al Jazeera, including {that a} whole of 54 passengers have been travelling within the bus.
A few of the survivors have sustained severe accidents, he mentioned, and are being handled at a neighborhood hospital.
“We’ve got eight to 10 critically injured sufferers and are making preparations to ship them to Quetta by helicopter whereas some others might be shifted to a hospital in Khuzdar,” mentioned Essazai, referring to a city 120km (75 miles) away.
Muhammad Ismail, a authorities official in Washuk, mentioned the bus crashed by way of a bridge and fell right into a rocky ravine. The bus driver is among the many lifeless.
In a press release, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences over the incident and directed the authorities to assist the injured.
“We stand with the bereaved households on this tough time and specific our heartfelt sympathies with them,” mentioned the assertion issued by the prime minister’s workplace.
In one other assertion, Balochistan’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti expressed his unhappiness on the lack of lives.
“We share the grief of the households who misplaced their family members. We are going to present medical services on the earliest to these injured within the accident,” mentioned the assertion.
Street accidents are frequent in Pakistan, primarily in its mountainous areas in Balochistan and the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Earlier this month, a minimum of 20 folks have been killed and dozens of others wounded when a passenger bus fell off a ravine within the nation’s northern space of Gilgit-Baltistan.
