With 56 people dead from one head-on crash on the outskirts of Khairpur in southern Pakistan, this could be worst crash of 2014. To date the dead include 18 children. They were passengers in a bus whose driver collided head-on with a goods truck, officials said.
Agence French Presse quotes senior local police official Nasir Aftab, who reports the Karachi-bound passenger bus which was coming from
northwestern city of Swat went on the wrong side of the road and collided
head-on with a goods container, killing 56 people”.
He said 18 passengers were injured in the accident, adding that
those killed in the crash included 17 women and 18 children.
A senior doctor at the Khairpur civil hospital confirmed the death
toll and said the condition of three of the injured was critical.
Pakistan has an appalling record of fatal traffic accidents due to poor roads, badly-maintained vehicles and reckless driving.
The emergency services’ recovery equipment is basic and when
crashes happen away from major towns, as they often do, rescue efforts can take
some time, reducing injured passengers’ chances of survival.
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.
The mountainous areas of Kashmir and the north, where drivers
career around narrow hairpin bends over deep ravines with scant regard for
safety, are particularly prone to accidents.
Three crashes in the space of 10 days in March in Kashmir and the
northwest left a total of 46 people dead.
