Over 40 killed in Pakistan bus crash, 10 children drown when boat capsizes

More than 40 people were killed after a bus fell into a ravine and caught fire in the southern Pakistani province of Balochistan on Sunday, officials said.

On the same day at least 10 children were killed when a boat carrying religious school students capsized in northwest Pakistan.

Forty-one bodies had been recovered from the bus wreckage, some burned beyond recognition, district police officer Israr Umrani told Reuters.

The bus carrying around 48 people crashed on the way from Balochistan’s capital of Quetta to the southern city of Karachi, officials said.

Dozens of people were combing through the wreckage, footage shared by the Edhi Foundation aid and emergency response organisation showed, and ambulance workers were carrying a dead body out of the debris.

Assistant Commissioner Hamza Anjum for Lasbela, a district in Balochistan, told Dawn newspaper the vehicle had crashed into a bridge, causing it to fall into a ravine and catch fire.

Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan, where traffic rules are rarely followed and roads in many rural areas are in poor condition.

At least 22 people were killed in June, including nine members of one family when a passenger van fell into deep ravine in Balochistan.

Meanwhile, around eight students were still missing while seven injured had been taken to hospital after the boat accident, according to local officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Kohat’s district commissioner Mahmood Aslam said around 50 students from a local religious school, had gathered near Tanda lake for a picnic. Twenty-five had ventured out on the water – which was closed by authorities for recreational trips – on a boat that capsized, he said.

The pupils who had died were aged between seven and 12 years old, according to a list shared with Reuters by the commissioner.

He said Pakistani military divers were helping with the rescue and recovery efforts. Video footage by local broadcasters and on social media showed rescuers in the water.