50 die in Pakistan bus and boat tragedies
AT LEAST 51 people were killed in two accidents in Pakistan yesterday, after a bus fell off a bridge and a boat carrying a class of children overturned.
Forty-one are confirmed dead after their bus loaded with containers of oil crashed into a ravine and exploded, and at least 10 pupils died in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said. At the remote site of the bus crash, north of Bela in Lasbela, administration official Hamza Anjum said: “The dead bodies are beyond recognition.”
Mr Anjum said 40 corpses were retrieved from the wreck alongside three injured, one of whom died shortly after. The remaining two survivors were in “serious” condition.
The charred husk of the vehicle chassis smoked on a dry riverbed under the bridge yesterday. Men used heavy machinery to move the twisted metal and pull out the burnt remains, which were then shrouded in white cloth.
Asghar Ramazan, head of the local rescue service, said: “When the bus fell down, it immediately caught fire.”
The bus was reportedly carrying a total of 48 passengers when it hit a pillar on the bridge and careened off course early on Sunday.