Child killed, 30 injured as bus falls into 100ft ravine near Islamabad

Chief of Traffic Police says 30 people have been pulled from the wreckage, shifted to hospitals.

ISLAMABAD: A child was killed as a passenger bus with at least 30 people on board, fell into a 100 ft ravine near Aaro Khas, Islamabad on Saturday evening, Express News reported.

The bus was travelling back from Murree to Islamabad when it fell into a ravine. Rescue officials have reached the site and are trying to extract the passengers.

A four-year old child pulled from the wreckage was pronounced as dead by doctors on arrival at the hospital.

Chief Traffic Police officer Ishtiaq Shah claimed that the bus was full of vacationers from Lahore who had decided to visit Murree after paying their respects at Golra Sharif. The accident, he said, took place when they were returning to Islamabad after visiting the hill station.

Shah claimed that 30 people had been rescued and have been shifted to an Islamabad hospital, and that there were no casualties so far.

The assistant commissioner of Rawalpindi said that all of the 30 injured have been shifted to the PIMS hospital in Islamabad. He added that they have requisitioned a crane from Rawalpindi to pull out the wreckage.

There are four men, 21 women, and five children. Of those injured, five women and a child are said to be in critical condition.

Express News correspondent Qamarul Munawar said that rescue work was progressing slowly due to a heavy shroud of darkness and snow fall at the location. Rescue workers were searching for any missing passengers.