At least 26 people killed after bus falls into ravine in AJK

MUZAFFARABAD: At least 26 people including children were killed on Wednesday when a passenger bus travelling from Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Palandri district fell into a ravine.

According to the police and Palandri district administration, the passenger bus was travelling from Sudhanoti district’s Balouch town to Rawalpindi. The bus fell into a ravine that was over 200-feet deep at Manjhari, the added.

“The bus carrying up to 40 passengers was going to Rawalpindi when it plunged into a deep ravine while negotiating a sharp turn,” local disaster management authority official Raja Moazzam told AFP.

He blamed speeding for the accident and said “authorities are trying to retrieve bodies and injured from the wreckage”.

The accident took place in the remote area some 160 kilometres (95 miles) east of Muzaffarabad at about 10 am local time, and the van was destroyed in the incident.

Rescue work was underway and the bodies and the injured were being recovered by volunteers and rescue officials.

AJK Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and directed the administration to provide emergency medical aid to the injured.

Pakistan has an appalling record of fatal road and rail accidents due to poor roads badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

At least 63 people were killed in June earlier this year when a high-speed passenger train knifed through carriages of another express that had derailed minutes earlier in Sindh.