At least 20 people were killed and over 60 others injured after a passenger train collided with a bus Pakistan’s Sindh province on Friday, according to the senior police official.
The accident took place near the Rohri railway station in Sukkur city.
Sukkur Police AIG Jamil Ahmed said that the number of casualties was expected to rise as several of the injured were in critical condition, Dawn news reported.
The 45 Up Pakistan Express train was on its way to Rawalpindi from Karachi, when it collided with a passenger bus at an unmanned railway crossing.
The bus was en route to Punjab and was carrying 20 passengers.
“It was a very horrible accident… The bus was split into three parts,” the AIG said,
The impact of the collision was such that the bus was dragged almost 150-200 feet by the train, AIG further added.
Meanwhile, Sukkur Commissioner Shafique Ahmed Mahesar said: “It is a huge tragedy and all administration and police officials are rushing to the site. It was an unmanned railway crossing as nothing existed there to prevent any traffic.”
According to the Sukkur District Health Officer Munir Mangrio, the victims included five women and nine men.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has called for an emergency to be declared at all hospitals in Khairpur, and directed the authorities concerned to ensure ample medicines and blood for those injured in the incident, Dawn news reported.
On February 15, at least 12 people, including women and children, were killed and over 23 others injured after the vehicle they were travelling fell into a ditch in southwest Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Last year, in August, at least 24 people, including women and children, were killed after a passenger bus fell into a ravine in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
In 2017, a bus carrying over 50 wedding guests met with an accident in Pakistan’s Sindh province that left at least six people dead and 40 injured.
Road accidents happen in Pakistan mainly due to poorly maintained vehicles, dilapidated roads and negligence of road safety measures.
According to the figures available with the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, road accidents killed an average of 15 people every day across the country over a decade from 2005 to 2015.