Karachi: At least 59 people were killed on Sunday when a passenger bus burst into fames after hitting an oil tanker in the southern Pakistani city Karachi, officials said.
Xinhua quoted Semi Jamali, superintendent of the Jinnah Hospital, as saying that four others — a man, a child and two women — were injured in the ghastly disaster.
Seven people seated on the roof of the bus managed to jump off safely.
She said many bodies were burnt beyond recognition. Police said the oil tanker’s driver was to blame for the accident. The bus was carrying 70 passengers.
The accident occurred on a highway. The bus was headed from Karachi to Shikarpur, a city in the northern part of Sindh province.
The bus driver and cleaner as well as the tanker’s driver also survived the accident.
Locals said firefighters were poorly equipped when they reached the site and what they had was not enough to extinguish the leaping flames.
Death row convict behind Rawalpindi bombing?
A man on death row in Pakistan, convicted of killing the Imambargah’s former caretaker, is being investigated for his possible link with Friday’s Rawalpindi blast, which left eight people killed and 20 injured.
Pakistan Taliban’s Jamaatul Ahrar faction has claimed responsibility for the attack. But a police officer told media they are exploring links between Friday’s bombing of the Imambargah in Rawalpindi, the twin city of Islamabad, and Hafiz Mohammad Nawaz, now facing execution for the 1999 killing of Aun Mohammad Rizvi, the then caretaker of the Imambargah. (IANS)