QUETTA: At least five people were killed after a speeding car hit a truck in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, an official said on Friday.
The vehicle carrying five people onboard was en route to Loralai from Quetta, when it crashed into the truck coming from the opposite direction in Sarki Jangal area, according to Loralai Deputy Commissioner Meeran Baloch.
The accident occurred after the driver of the speeding car lost control at a curve section of the highway.
“Five people traveling in the car, including principal of the Government Boys Degree College Loralai, were killed,” Baloch told Arab News.
“The bodies were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Loralai, where four of them have been identified.”
Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan where traffic rules are rarely followed and roads, particularly in rural and mountainous areas, are in poor condition.
Such accidents are frequent in Balochistan where single-carriage roads connect various cities, and even some highways lack modern safety features.
Late last month, at least 12 people were killed and more than a dozen others sustained injuries in three fatal road accidents in the southwestern Pakistani province.
At least five killed in road crash in Pakistan’s Balochistan province
https://arab.news/88hh5
At least five killed in road crash in Pakistan’s Balochistan province
- The crash occurred after driver of a speeding car lost control of it and hit a truck
- Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan where traffic rules are rarely followed
Pakistan to hold first nationwide anti-polio drive of 2026 tomorrow
- Trained polio volunteers to vaccinate over 45 million children countywide from Feb. 2-8
- Pakistan reported 31 polio cases in 2025, a significant decline from 74 cases in 2024
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities will launch the first nationwide anti-polio campaign of the year tomorrow, Monday, to vaccinate over 45 million children against the disease, state media reported.
Pakistan recorded a significant decline in polio cases last year compared to 2024, when the South Asian country reported an alarming 74 cases. In 2025, the number of polio cases in Pakistan dropped to 31.
Authorities say the progress in anti-polio efforts reflects strengthened program implementation, enhanced surveillance and improved coordination between federal and provincial stakeholders. This year’s first anti-polio campaign will take place from Feb. 2-8.
“A nationwide anti-polio campaign will begin from tomorrow,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.
“During the campaign, 45 million children under five years of age will be vaccinated with anti-polio drops.”
Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries worldwide where polio remains endemic. Both countries held several vaccination campaigns last year in a bid to eliminate the disease from the country.
Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq said last week that around 400,000 trained polio workers will vaccinate children in the door-to-door campaign.
Pakistani health officials have cited the deteriorating security situation in the country as a major obstacle in its bid to eliminate polio from the country.
Polio workers and their security escorts have repeatedly been targeted in militant attacks, particularly in parts of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces, complicating efforts to reach every child.
A gun attack targeting a polio vaccination team in Pakistan’s northwestern Bajaur district in December 2025 left one police constable and a civilian dead.
Natural disasters, including flooding, have also disrupted vaccination campaigns in recent years.
