Pakistan: Fire engulfs bus following collision with fuel truck in Punjab; 18 dead

As many as 16 people were killed and 15 others injured in a road accident at a motorway in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Sunday. Many women and children were among those killed when a passenger bus carrying about 40 persons smashed into a pick-up carrying diesel drums and caught fire on the Faisalabad Motorway near Pindi Bhattian, Geo News reported. Fire engulfed the bus en route to Islamabad from Karachi shortly after it hit the pick-up van near the Pindi-Bhattian Interchange at 4 am, District Police Officer (DPO) Dr Fahad said. The injured were transported to Pindi Bhattian and Faisalabad Hospital, said the medical superintendent. The toll is expected to rise further as the condition of four of the injured is said to be critical, the report said. DPO Fahad however said 18 bodies were recovered from the bus and would be identified through DNA testing. Road accidents which are common across Pakistan claim numerous lives on a daily basis. Five people, including a woman and two minors, were killed and 20 others injured when a bus overturned in the Fazilpur area of Punjab’s Rajanpur district back in July.