57 killed in accident near Khairpur

KHAIRPIUR: At least 57 people were killed in a collision between a passenger bus and truck near Khairpur on Tuesday. Ten children were among those killed.

The accident took place at Theri Bypass on the National Highway at approximately 6 AM. The Karachi-bound passenger bus traveling from Swat was completely destroyed in the accident. Six members of the same family from Swat were also killed in the horrific accident.




The deceased and injured were shifted to the Civil Hospital in Khairpur where emergency was declared. MS Civil Hospital, Dr Jaffer Soomro said most of those killed in the accident were women and children. "The accident was so severe that all of them died at the spot and only one child died at hospital during treatment," said Dr Soomro.

The details of Tuesday´s crash are still not entirely clear. Initial reports said the two vehicles collided head on, but later police said the bus hit the stationary truck after pulling out from a petrol station.

DIG Motorway A.D. Khawaja said the reason for the accident was the poor road; however, the driver had been fined for overloading.

"There was a deep ditch on the road which we call ´rutting´ some 30 to 40 yards before the place where the bus hit the truck," he said.

"We have learned that the bus went out of control after it hit the rutting and it landed on the opposite side of the road and then hit the truck which was coming from Karachi."

Meanwhile the Sindh government has provided a C-130 plane to transport the deceased to Swat.

In April a bus smashed into a tractor-trailer in a high speed collision in Sindh, killing 42 people, while in March a horrific crash between two buses and a petrol tanker left 35 dead, with many burned alive when the fuel ignited.