At least 20 people killed in a motorway accident in Pakistan after a speeding bus collided with an oil tanker on M5-motorway, also known as Multan-Sukkur Motorway near Bahawalpur. As per media reports, the bus was on its way to Karachi from Lahore.
The motorway police officials said that accident was caused due to speeding. “Three buses were racing. One of them rammed into an oil tanker,” a police official told media. The crash triggered a fire that engulfed both the bus and the tanker.
“The tanker was beyond recognition to determine what company it belongs,” the police said. The police and rescue 1122 rushed to the spot after the accident took place. The dead bodies and injured were shifted to the nearby hospitals.
The motorway police said that the fire was so intense that it was visible from a distance. At least nine passengers were rescued from the burning bus. It took several hours for the rescue team to extinguish the fire.
To facilitate the relatives of deceased and injured, the police have established an emergency crisis center.
آئی جی نیشنل ہائی ویز اینڈ موٹروے پولیس خالد محمود کی ہدایات پر موٹروے ایم-5 نزد جلالپور حادثے میں جاں بحق اور زخمی افراد کے لواحقین کی رہنمائی اور ہر ممکن امداد یقینی بنانے کے لیے ایمرجنسی سنٹر نشتر ہسپتال ملتان میں این ایچ ایم پی کی جانب سے خصوصی ہیلپ ڈیسک قائم کر دیا گیا ہے۔ pic.twitter.com/sXbvQ1LFdT
— National Highways & Motorway Police (NHMP) (@NHMPofficial) August 16, 2022
The ill-fated sleeper bus left Lahore for Karachi at 9pm yesterday.
In an update, the motorway police tweeted that both oil tanker and bus have been removed from the road and it is now opened for the traffic.
موٹروے ایم-5 نزد جلالپور:
این ایچ ایم پی اور متعلقہ اداروں کی مشترکہ کاوشوں کے بعد حادثے کا شکار بس اور آئل ٹینکر کو سڑک سے ہٹا دیا گیا ہے اور امدادی کاروائیاں مکمل ہونے پر سڑک کو ٹریفک کی آمدورفت کے لیے کھول دیا گیا ہے۔ https://t.co/zucL4OnoDI pic.twitter.com/6kTCvF58s2— National Highways & Motorway Police (NHMP) (@NHMPofficial) August 16, 2022
Its upper body looks swept back and more than half of its body has been dented in, it means that more than half the passengers are dead. I remember a super Madina Hino bus hurling into an oil tanker near Sukhur in mid 2000s or late 2010s, it made quite a stir because more than half dead passengers were children, super Madina was banned from operating in subsequent period. That accident was same as this one but that bus’s body was in better shape than this imported sleeper bus, what then is the use of spending a double amount in importing a sleeper bus from China if the bus is not even designed to hold its own weight?