40 killed, 8 injured after speeding, overcrowded bus plunges into ravine in Pakistan

40 people were killed and eight others injured after a bus fell into a deep roadside ditch in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan.

In Short

• Bus was overcrowded, carrying passengers from a broken-down bus
• The vehicle veered off Sherani-Zhob highway in southwestern Pakistan
• Rescue operation involved six ambulances, 12 EMTs, local authorities

A speeding, overcrowded passenger bus veered off a highway and plunged into a rocky ravine in southwestern Pakistan early on Friday, killing at least 40 people and injuring eight others in one of the country's deadliest road accidents in recent years, officials said.

According to the Medical Emergency Response Centre (MERC), rescue teams recovered 40 bodies from the crash site, while the eight injured passengers were shifted to the Trauma Centre in Zhob for treatment.

According to a report in The Express Tribune, a large-scale rescue operation was launched with six ambulances, 12 emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and 10 light transport vehicles deployed to the scene.

An official said the bus was overcrowded as it was carrying not only its own passengers but also people from another bus that had broken down, as per an Associated Press report.

District administration officials in Sherani, local rescue teams and ambulances responded immediately after the accident was reported, with rescue personnel from neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also joining the operation.

Sherani Deputy Commissioner Hazrat Wali Kakar said, "the injured were being rescued and shifted to nearby hospitals, while efforts to recover and transport the bodies of those killed were continuing".

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

Authorities said an investigation was launched to determine the cause of the accident.

- Ends