A passenger bus collided with an oil tanker near Karachi in Pakistan killing 57 people, some of them charred beyond recognition. After the patients were taken to the hospital six more deaths were reported, taking the death toll to 63.
The speeding tanker was reportedly travelling on the wrong side of the road and hit the bus head on.The impact led to both the vehicles bursting into flames. However, GeoTV reports that senior police official Rao Muhammad Anwaar is looking into any tarrif violationson the part of the bus driver. "We are trying to ascertain if the driver of the oil tanker was solely at fault or whether the bus driver also showed negligence," he said.
Dr. Seemi Jamali, who heads the emergency section at Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center in Karachi, told BBC that when the remains were brought in, there were 57 dead bodies and were beyond recognition. Four people were injured in the accident.
He had warned that the death toll could go up.
The driver of the tanker reportedly fled after the accident.
It was a providential escape for the four passengers travelling on the roof of the bus, as they were able to jump and escape, but the ones inside the bus got trapped and died.
The bus carrying 60 passengers was travelling from Karachi to Shikarpur.
Poor roads and irresponsible driving result in frequent road accidents in Pakistan; nearly 9,000 crashes and an average of 4,500 deaths on roads are reported every year.
In November last year, 56 people died when a bus collided head-on with a goods truck near Khairpur at the Theri Bypass in the north of Sindh province. The bus travelling from Swat to Karachi was reportedly in the process of overtaking another vehicle, when it rammed into the truck that was coming in the opposite direction.
