40 dead, 8 injured as passenger bus plunges into ravine in Pakistan's Balochistan

A passenger bus plunged into a deep ravine in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Friday, killing at least 40 people and severely injuring eight others. The overloaded vehicle was traveling from Quetta to Islamabad when it veered off the hazardous Sherani-Zhob highway in the Danasar area.

The accident exposed the perilous state of Pakistan's transport infrastructure, with a glaring absence of highway safety barriers and structural safeguards on its mountainous routes. Disaster response teams recovered 40 bodies from the wreckage, while survivors were rushed to a trauma facility in Zhob.

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the injured were being rescued and shifted to nearby hospitals, while efforts to recover and transport the bodies of those killed were continuing.

Authorities reported that the bus had been heavily overloaded midway through its journey. It departed Quetta with 36 passengers, but picked up additional travelers when another bus broke down. The influx of casualties prompted a medical emergency declaration at local healthcare facilities, straining a system ill-equipped for mass disasters.

Local administrative units from Sherani and neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa mobilized personnel to the remote crash site. Sherani Deputy Commissioner Hazrat Wali Kakar stated that rescue and recovery efforts were ongoing. An official probe has been initiated to determine the exact cause of the fatal plunge.

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The coach departed Quetta carrying 36 passengers, but additional travellers boarded en route after being transferred from another bus that had broken down.