Dawn.com, Balochistan :
A collision between two passenger buses and a petrol tanker killed 35 people in southwest Pakistan on Saturday, officials said, with many of the victims being burned to death. Moreover, DawnNews quoted sources as saying that six navy personnel travelling in the area were reported missing since the time of the accident.
The accident took place as a bus travelling to Karachi collided with the tanker in the early hours of this morning in Gadani in Hub district on the coast of Balochistan province, senior administration official Akbar Haripal told AFP.
“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 added to Haripal’s comments, saying the second bus and truck piled up onto the two vehicles and all four vehicles caught fire.
Nawaz said 25 people were reported to have died at the scene while 30 injured victims were taken out of the destroyed and burned buses.
Most of the victims, including women and children, were severely burned and were transported to Karachi. Ten of the injured died on the way, raising the death toll to 35, he said.
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.
Sultan said the injured were being taken to Karachi after receiving first aid at a government-run medical dispensary because there was no hospital in the area.
Six navy personnel have been reported missing since the time of the traffic accident, DawnNews reported.
Quoting unnamed officials in the navy, it added that the missing personnel were travelling from Ormara towards Karachi, but contact with them was lost around the time of the accident in Gadani.
Names of the six personnel were also registered with the Edhi morgue administration where the bodies of the accident victims are being kept.
Bus, oil tanker collision kills 35 in SW Pakistan
