QUETTA: At least seven people were killed and 54 injured on Thursday evening when a bus full of wedding guests fell into a gorge in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta, officials said.
Police said over 60 people were aboard the bus, which was traveling from Quetta’s Musa Colony area for a wedding in Baleli area located on the city’s outskirts when it fell into a gorge on the western bypass highway.
“Seven dead bodies, including four minor girls, arrived in Civil Hospital Quetta,” Dr. Waseem Baig, the spokesperson of the provincial health department, told Arab News.
“Fifty-four injured were brought to the Civil Hospital and are being treated in the Trauma Center,” he added.
Muhammad Dilawar, an investigation officer at the Brewery Police Station in Quetta, said the accident took place after a bus tire burst, causing the vehicle to fall into the gorge.
“The driver who is among the dead could not control the bus filled with people after the front tire of the bus burst at the western bypass area,” Dilawar told Arab News.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti expressed sorrow over the deaths, directing health officials to ensure quality health care for the injured.
The chief minister called for an inquiry to ascertain the cause of the accident.
Fatal accidents are common in Pakistan, where traffic rules are rarely followed and roads, particularly in many rural and mountainous areas, are in poor condition. In Quetta, many parts of the western bypass highway have been in dilapidated condition for a very long time. The road is dedicated for heavy traffic movement to keep the flow of traffic smooth in the city.
Such incidents are particularly common in Balochistan where single carriage roads connect various cities and even some highways lack modern safety features.
At least four people were killed and more than a dozen injured after an Islamabad-Quetta bound passenger bus plunged into a ravine in Zhob district on Sept. 14, 2024.
