MULTAN: A speeding passenger bus rammed into a van on a motorway on the Multan-Sukkur (M5) motorway late on Friday, killing 13 people and injuring several others, a police spokesman said.
The accident happened in Rahim Yar Khan, a district in Punjab, according to Mohammad Awais, a district police spokesman.
Rizwan Umar Gondal, the district police officer (DPO) in Rahim Yar Khan, said the accident occurred when the van overturned due to a tyre burst. While the stranded vehicle was being attended to by its passengers, a bus traveling behind them stopped to assist. The passengers of the bus disembarked to help those in the van.
However, the situation took a turn for the worse when a speeding jeep crashed into the stationary bus, causing multiple fatalities and injuries.
The impact of the collision was so severe that the bus was thrown off the road, and the passengers who had just alighted from the vehicle were caught in the collision.
Separately, Awais said the dead and injured had all been moved to a hospital.
The authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, and initial reports suggest that the driver of the jeep may have been speeding and lost control of the vehicle, resulting in the accident.
Traffic accidents in Pakistan generally happen due to traffic rules violations, resulting in thousands of deaths or injuries every year. Last month, a bus crashed into a pillar and fell off a bridge, catching fire and killing 40 passengers in the southern district of Lasbela.
— With AP
