ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday every effort will be made in a probe into a recent blast on a bus in northwestern Pakistan that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers, the PM’s office said on Friday.
The blast on Wednesday sent the bus crashing into a ravine in in the northwestern Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the Chinese workers were employed at the Dasu hydroelectric project.
While Pakistan earlier said the explosion had occurred due to a mechanical failure, China insisted on a thorough investigation into the incident and said on Thursday it would cooperate closely with Pakistan in the probe.
PM Khan’s assurance was made during a call with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang, as the government said on Thursday he possibility of terrorism could not be ruled out in the incident.
“The Prime Minister assured that no effort would be spared to fully investigate the incident,” Khan’s office said in a statement. “He added that security of Chinese nationals, workers, projects, and institutions in Pakistan was the highest priority of the government.”
“No hostile forces would be allowed to damage brotherly relations between Pakistan and China,” Khan said.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s information minister, Fawad Chaudhry, said investigators had found “traces of explosives” while probing the case.
“Initial investigations into Dassu incident have now confirmed traces of explosives,Terrorism cannot be ruled out,” Chaudhry tweeted, adding that the prime minister was “personally supervising all developments” and the government was closely coordinating with Chinese authorities.
Chinese engineers have for several years been working on hydroelectric projects in the region as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion investment plan under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative aiming to link western China to the southern Pakistani port of Gwadar.
