Accident in Balochistan: Eleven killed, 31 injured in deadly crash

A speeding passenger coach collides with a truck head-on in Uthal

QUETTA:

At least 11 people died and more than two dozen sustained injuries on Monday morning when a speeding passenger coach collided with a truck in Uthal area of Balochistan’s Lasbela district.

According to Uthal police, the passenger coach was coming to Karachi from Quetta.  “The incident took place, when the coach driver tried to overtake another Karachi-bound passenger coach and collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction,” said an official.

He said both vehicles overturned on impact. “At least 11 people – including both the drivers – died on the spot while 31 people got injured,” he added.

After the accident, rescue workers and police rushed to the spot and shifted the bodies and the injured to a state-run hospital in Uthal. Some of the injured were transported to Karachi because of their critical wounds.

Four of the dead were identified as residents of Quetta, while the remaining bodies were kept at the morgue for identification. Police said that the reckless driving led to the deadly accident. The Quetta-Karachi highway is one of the deadliest highways in Pakistan where every year dozens of people lose their lives because of reckless driving and lack of proper maintenance by highway authorities.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2014.