15 dead, 25 injured in Rahim Yar Khan bus accident

The bus was carrying 40 passengers from Bahawalpur to Karachi. Of the injured, 15 are critical.

MULTAN: At least 15 people died and 25 were injured when a passenger bus travelling to Karachi overturned near Rahim Yar Khan on Friday evening.

Three of the dead were women, while one was a child.

DPO Rahim Yar Khan Sohail Zafar Chattha has confirmed that 10 people had died on the spot. He added that the bus, which had overturned near the Zafarabad interchange, was over speeding.

Zahoor Wattoo, the spokesman for Rescue 1122 Rahim Yar Khan said that as per initial information, at least 12 passengers were in critical condition.

Over 15 of the injured were in critical condition. Two of those critical, have been shifted to Sheikh Zayed Medical College and Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan. The rest of the injured have been shifted to medical centres in Liaquatpur and Khanpur including the Basic Health Unit (BHU) in Zahidpeer, and Taranda Mohammad Panah.

Hospital sources told The Express Tribune that three people who had been critically injured, died on their way to the Rural Health Centre. Two passengers injured in the crash were pronounced dead on arrival at the Basic Health Unit in Fatehpur Khan.

According to SSP Motorway Dr Atif Ikram, the bus, belonging to the private Makkah bus service, was travelling to Karachi from Bahawalpur with 40 passengers on the Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar highway. When it neared the Zafarabad interchange, a motorbike suddenly emerged from a link road. To avoid a collision, the bus driver steered the bus away, but he ended up cart wheeling off the highway.

The driver was injured in the crash.

Police from the Shehdani Sharif Police Station in Liaquatpur Tehsil have been dispatched to the scene along with Rescue 1122 officials from Rahim Yar Khan.