At least 70 passengers were on board the bus, which was travelling from Karachi to Peshawar. It skidded off the road and fell into a stream in the Khur Buzdar area. “At least 20 people are confirmed dead, while 10 others were rescued,” Dr Natiq Hayat, from Rescue 1122, told AFP. “The search for other passengers is on.”
According to APP, 30 passengers were saved after rescuers cut the body of the bus and took them out. Two people are hospitalised with injuries while others are reported to have minor bruises. Sixteen passengers are still missing. “The bus is now filled with water and sand and we fear there might be eight to 10 more passengers in it,” said Natiq.
“The bodies of a few passengers which were swept away by water have been fished out by volunteers from nearby villages. The Tehsil Headquarters Hospital staff have been asked to take the bodies from there,” Hayat said.
Passengers sitting at the roof of the bus saved their lives by jumping into the water. Heavy machinery was brought from DG Khan to retrieve the bus.
Iftikhar Ali, the District Coordination Officer of DG Khan, said the route had been closed overnight due to the danger of torrents of water from nearby hills, but that the bus driver ignored the warning.
The incident occurred some 35 kilometres away from Taunsa city on a portion of Taunsa-DI Khan road at a time when hill torrent water was crossing the road at a reasonable speed.
The uneven road and the pressure of the water are said to have caused the accident. Hill torrents from the Suleman Mountain Range are usual during the monsoon season and in addition to destroying standing crops and rural settlements, they sometimes also damage inter-district roads in DG Khan and Rajanpur districts. (With additional input from Wires)
Published in The Express Tribune, August 24th, 2010.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ