At least 29 people were killed after a passenger bus fell into a ditch in Pakistan's Punjab province on Sunday, according to a media report. The bus was travelling with 30 passengers from Haveli Kahuta to Rawalpindi, Geo News reported quoting sources said. The accident took place near Pana Bridge.
According to the sources, the cause of the accident — which occurred in a mountainous area — is not yet known, the report said. The local residents are retrieving the bodies from the bus, while the police and the rescue teams are on their way to the site of the incident. Kahuta is a tehsil in the Rawalpindi district and is one hour away from the city.
According to a report by Dawn, the accident was caused due to the coaster’s failed brakes.
Second major bus accident in Pakistan
Notably, the major tragedy came hours after a bus carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims returning from Iraq through Iran fell from a highway into a ravine in southwest Pakistan, killing at least 12 people and injuring 32 others, police and officials said. The first accident occurred on the Makran coastal highway after the driver lost control of the bus when its brakes failed while passing through Lasbela district in Baluchistan province, local police chief Qazi Sabir said.
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari expressed deep grief over the loss of precious lives in the accident. “My sympathies are with the bereaved families in this hour of sorrow,” he said, according to a post shared by his party, PPP, on the X platform. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said that she felt deeply saddened by the loss of lives. "May Allah exalt the ranks of those who died in this tragedy and grant patience to their loved ones,” she said on X.
Bus accidents in Pakistan are common
Bus accidents are common in Pakistan. The crash on Sunday occurred days after 35 Pakistani pilgrims were killed in a bus crash in neighbouring Iran while heading to Iraq. The bodies of those victims were brought home on a Pakistani military plane on Saturday and buried in the southern Sindh province. Sabir said the bus that fell into a ravine on Sunday was heading to Pakistan's eastern Punjab province.
This is a breaking story. More details will be added.
