ISLAMABAD: At least 24 people were killed in two separate road crashes in Pakistan’s Punjab and Balochistan provinces, officials and state media reported on Saturday.

In the first incident, a truck carrying passengers fell into a dry canal near Sargodha at a time of low visibility on road due to fog, according to Rescue 1122 officials.

“At least fourteen people have died in the fog-related traffic accident,” the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.

Nine others sustained injuries in the crash.

Dense fog is a recurring hazard on Pakistan’s highways during the winter months, particularly across Punjab and parts of Sindh, where poor visibility often leads to serious road accidents.

But fog is not the only reason behind these crashes as some of the incidents have also resulted from speeding and reckless driving, poor awareness of traffic rules, overloading and weak enforcement of laws.

In the second incident, a passenger bus en route to Jiwani from Karachi overturned near Ormara in the Balochistan province, according to Edhi rescue service

“Ten people, including a young girl, have died as a result of overturning of the passenger coach,” said Faisal Edhi, who heads the Edhi rescue service. “An Edhi mobile morgue has been dispatched to transport the bodies to Karachi.”

Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan, where traffic rules are rarely followed while such incidents are particularly common in Pakistan’s mountainous Balochistan province where single carriage roads connect various cities while local bus drivers usually avoid traffic rules and speed limit on national highways. 

On Friday, at least five people were killed in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province after a vehicle transporting smuggled Iranian oil hit another vehicle coming from the opposite direction, a police official said. The collision occurred in the Washuk district that borders Iran.