Road accident kills 41 in Sukkur

Published April 20, 2014
Rescue workers and volunteers gather to remove passengers from a damaged bus at the accident site in Pano Aqil, Pakistan. — Photo by AP
Rescue workers and volunteers gather to remove passengers from a damaged bus at the accident site in Pano Aqil, Pakistan. — Photo by AP

SUKKUR: At least 41 people were killed and several others were injured Sunday morning in a bus-trailer collision on the National Highway in Sindh's Sukkur district, DawnNews reported.

The accident took place near Pano Akil area in Sukkur when a bus traveling from Dera Ghazi Khan to Karachi entered into a head-on collision with a trailer, security personnel said.

The bus was carrying over 50 passengers when the driver lost control of the vehicle and collided with the trailer coming from the opposite direction, rescue sources said.

A track of the road where the accident took place was closed down due to construction work being carried out.

Police personnel and rescue teams immediately reached the site of the incident and began cutting through the wreckage of the bus to rescue the victims.

The deceased included 13 women, 14 children and the driver of the bus among others, according to rescue sources who added that the driver of the trailer had also sustained wounds in the mishap.

Most of the injured were in critical condition and many were transferred to hospital in Karachi after initial treatment in Sukkur.

Among the dead were six members of a ten-person family travelling in the bus. Two more family members were injured while two were unhurt

“We were ten members of one family, six of them died and two were injured,”a weeping family member said while recounting the accident.

The family was travelling to visit other relatives in Karachi, she said.

Fatal traffic accidents, blamed on poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving, are frequent in Pakistan claim many lives annually.

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