Around 30 killed, several injured as bus crashes in Pakistan
At least 30 people were killed, mostly laborers who were going to their hometown to celebrate Eid-ul Azha, and over 40 others injured on Monday when a passenger bus collided with a trailer truck on a highway in Dera Ghazi Khan district of Pakistan's Punjab Province. The accident took place on the Indus Highway near Taunsa bypass in Dera Ghazi Khan district.
Majority were laborers going to hometown to celebrate Eid-ul Azha
The bus was en route from Sialkot to Rajanpur when the accident took place. The majority of the passengers were laborers who were going to their hometown to celebrate Eid-ul Azha on Wednesday, officials said. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital where medical staff confirmed the death of 18 people upon their arrival.
Driver seemed to have fallen asleep and lost control: Official
Minister of Information and Broadcasting of Pakistan Fawad Chaudhry in a tweet confirmed that at least thirty people have lost their lives. He appealed to public vehicle drivers to drive carefully for the safety of passengers. Quoting an injured passenger a police official said the driver of the bus seemed to have fallen asleep and lost control over the vehicle that caused the accident.
You can view the tweet here
ڈیرہ غازیخان کے قریب ٹریفک ایکسیڈنٹ میں تیس لوگ جان کی بازی ہار گئے ہیں، کب ہم بحیثیت قوم یہ احساس کریں گے کہ ٹریفک قوانین کی خلاف ورزی جان لیوا ہے پبلک ٹرانسپورٹ کے ڈرائیورز لوگوں کی زندگیوں کے امین ہیں انھیں اور بھی احتیاط کی ضرورت ہے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) July 19, 2021
Traffic accidents are common in Pakistan
Pakistan Punjab's Chief Minister Usman Buzdar expressed grief over the accident but didn't announce any compensation for the victims. Traffic accidents are common in Pakistan and most of them are caused due to over speeding, bad roads, and untrained drivers.
A previous bus accident killed 13 people on July 14
A bus carrying Chinese and Pakistani construction workers on a slippery mountainous road in northwest Pakistan had fallen into a ravine, killing at least 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals on July 14, officials said. At least 36 people were also injured in the apparent accident in the Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Business Standard reported.
