An overcrowded passenger bus in southwestern Pakistan plunges from a highway into a rocky ravine in the Dana Sar area, killing at least 40 people and injuring eight, according to officials and multiple reports. The crash occurs early on Friday in a remote stretch near the border of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Reports say the bus was travelling toward Peshawar, after departing from Quetta.
Several accounts describe why the bus is overloaded. One report says the bus carries its own passengers as well as passengers taken from another bus that has broken down on the route, contributing to overcrowding. A survivor’s account, reported by one outlet, describes a dispute after the driver stops to pick up people from the broken-down bus. The reports say that after an argument, the driver allegedly grabs the driver by the neck and the bus then loses control and crashes into the ravine.
Rescuers work at the scene and help identify those killed and the injured. One outlet’s figure is lower for the fatalities, but the other sources converge on 40 deaths and eight injuries.