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A tragic accident occurred on Sunday evening in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where a Rawalpindi-bound bus plunged into a ravine, leaving two people dead and 36 others injured. The incident happened in the Shetial area of Upper Kohistan's Harban tehsil, according to reports from ANI, which cited rescue officials.
The bus, run by a private company, was travelling from Skardu in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) towards Rawalpindi, carrying 38 passengers. Rescue 1122 spokesperson Abdur Rehman confirmed the unfortunate fatalities: Mohammad Nadeem, a passenger from Vehari in Punjab, and the driver, Sadaqat Hussain, from Dinor in Gilgit (PoJK). The injured, a mix of women, children, and adults, were primarily from Skardu, with others hailing from Besham Dandai in Shangla and various parts of Punjab.
Following the accident, all survivors were transported to the district headquarters hospital in Chilas, located in the Diamer district. Medical personnel are providing treatment, with several critically injured passengers undergoing surgeries, while others remain in stable condition, according to ANI.
This tragic incident underscores the frequent and often severe road accidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its neighbouring mountainous regions. Spokesperson Abdur Rehman attributed these frequent mishaps to a combination of difficult terrain, poor road conditions, and overloaded vehicles. He explained that these issues are exacerbated by narrow, winding roads, unpredictable weather, and driver fatigue, all of which increase the likelihood of accidents in these areas.
According to local reports, such incidents are not uncommon on the winding roads of northern Pakistan. Just last month, another incident reported by Dawn saw a landslide hit a bus on the Karakoram Highway (KKH) in Upper Kohistan's Dasu region, resulting in the deaths of three people, including two Pakistani army soldiers. The bus, en route to Hunza, was struck by large boulders that killed the soldiers and one civilian passenger, while injuring another.
These accidents serve as a reminder of the perils that travellers face on Pakistan's mountainous highways, where adverse weather conditions and challenging roads require extreme caution. The rugged terrain, coupled with limited infrastructure, calls for increased attention to road safety measures to help prevent such tragic events in the future.
(With inputs from ANI)
