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Bus-truck collision kills 35 in Pakistan

Many burnt to death after vehicles carrying petrol catch fire near Gadani.

At least 35 people were killed and several others injured when an oil tanker collided with two passenger coaches on the Quetta-Karachi highway in the early hours of Saturday.

The accident took place as a bus travelling to Karachi collided with the tanker in the early hours of Saturday in Gadani in Hub district on the coast of Balochistan province, senior administration official Akbar Haripal said.

“The bus and the tanker had a head-on collision and the oil tanker turned over, but the situation got worse when a second passenger bus coming from behind rammed into the first bus as it skidded on the oil spilled on the road,” Haripal said.

The first bus then caught fire, he said, adding that 35 people were killed, most of them burning to death while trapped inside the bus, and 30 were injured.

Local police chief Ahmed Nawaz said the second bus and truck piled up onto the two vehicles and all four vehicles caught fire.

Amir Sultan, another senior administration official, confirmed the incident and the toll, saying that the bodies were burned “beyond recognition”.

“These passenger buses travelling between Balochistan and Karachi have automatic hydraulic doors and their windows are sealed because the buses are air conditioned, so most of the passengers were trapped inside,” he said.

The injured were taken to hospitals in Hub and Karachi for medical assistance. The dead and injured included women and children.

Police said that the driver of the tanker lost control and collided with the passenger buses. One bus was on its way to Karachi from Quetta while the other was going to Makran from Karachi.

According to media reports, one coach was also carrying smuggled Iranian petrol and was being driven by the conductor at the of accident. The coach driver was asleep in the back at that time. The situation got worse as the smuggled Iranian oil, petrol and diesel kept on the rooftops of the passenger buses and the truck loaded with oil drums caught fire and most of the victims were charred to death.

news@khaleejtimes.com

(With inputs from agencies)