Agencies :
At least 58 people, including women and children, were killed and several others injured on Tuesday morning following a collision between a passenger coach and a truck near Theri Bypass in Sindh’s Khairpur area, police said.
Police official Ghulam Jhokhio told AP that after the accident the bus quickly caught fire as its fuel tank exploded.
However provincial health minister, Jam Mehtab, earlier told Dawn that no one had suffered burn-related injuries during the mishap.
“The fatalities included 21 women and 19 children, all below the age of 14,” Medical Superintendent of Khairpur Civil Hospital M Jaffar Soomro said, warning that the death toll was likely to rise.
Soomro told Dawn that the condition of three wounded was critical and they had been shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward.
The fatal accident occurred when the driver of the over-speeding coach, which was travelling from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district to Karachi, tried to overtake a vehicle resulting in a head-on collision with a truck coming from the opposite direction, according to motorway police sources.
However police official Ghulam Jhokhio said that the accident could have been caused due to fog.
The coach, which was carrying around 70 passengers at the time of accident, overturned after hitting the truck.
Emergency and rescue teams reached the accident site and began shifting the victims to hospitals in Sukkur and Khairpur district.
An emergency was imposed at the Civil Hospital Sukkur and other nearby hospitals whereas the condition of several wounded was reported as critical.
Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan expressed condolences over the fatal mishap and ordered for the provision of treatment to the victims.
At least 58 people, including women and children, were killed and several others injured on Tuesday morning following a collision between a passenger coach and a truck near Theri Bypass in Sindh’s Khairpur area, police said.
Police official Ghulam Jhokhio told AP that after the accident the bus quickly caught fire as its fuel tank exploded.
However provincial health minister, Jam Mehtab, earlier told Dawn that no one had suffered burn-related injuries during the mishap.
“The fatalities included 21 women and 19 children, all below the age of 14,” Medical Superintendent of Khairpur Civil Hospital M Jaffar Soomro said, warning that the death toll was likely to rise.
Soomro told Dawn that the condition of three wounded was critical and they had been shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward.
The fatal accident occurred when the driver of the over-speeding coach, which was travelling from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district to Karachi, tried to overtake a vehicle resulting in a head-on collision with a truck coming from the opposite direction, according to motorway police sources.
However police official Ghulam Jhokhio said that the accident could have been caused due to fog.
The coach, which was carrying around 70 passengers at the time of accident, overturned after hitting the truck.
Emergency and rescue teams reached the accident site and began shifting the victims to hospitals in Sukkur and Khairpur district.
An emergency was imposed at the Civil Hospital Sukkur and other nearby hospitals whereas the condition of several wounded was reported as critical.
Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan expressed condolences over the fatal mishap and ordered for the provision of treatment to the victims.
