At least 28 people have been killed in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan after a bus fell into a ravine. The bus originating from Turbat city in southern Balochistan, was on its way to the provincial capital, Quetta, located approximately 750 km (466 miles) to the north.
The accident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a mountainous region, said Noorullah Essazai, a government health official in Washuk district.
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A total of 54 passengers were onboard. 28 were killed and many others sustained serious injuries. Among the dead was the bus driver.
Muhammad Ismail, another government official in Washuk confirmed that the bus had crashed through a bridge before plunging into a rocky ravine.
Survivors with injuries are being treated at a local hospital. Efforts are underway to transport the most critically injured to Quetta by helicopter. Some of the injured will be transferred to a hospital in Khuzdar, approximately 120 km (75 miles) away.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences in a statement, addressing government support for the injured and the bereaved families.
“We stand with the bereaved families in this difficult time and express our heartfelt sympathies with them,” said the prime minister’s office.
Balochistan’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti also expressed his sadness over the loss of lives, pledging medical aid to the injured. “We share the grief of the families who lost their loved ones. We will provide medical facilities at the earliest to those injured in the accident,” he stated.
Road accidents are a common occurrence in Pakistan particularly in the mountainous regions of Balochistan and the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Earlier this month, another incident occurred when at least 20 people were killed and dozens were injured after a passenger bus fell off a ravine in Gilgit-Baltistan, northern Pakistan.
The current accident in Washuk comes just three days after a deadly collision in Multan, eastern Punjab province, which killed 13 members of a single family.
Local media shared images showing the wreckage of the bus at the bottom of the rocky ravine. Police officer Asghar Ali reported that the driver lost control suddenly as the bus was traveling at high speed.
Government administrator Ismail Mengal indicated that the exact cause of the crash is still under investigation, though initial reports suggest overspeeding was a factor.
Traffic rules and safety standards are often not strictly followed in Pakistan, contributing to a high rate of road accidents.
The rugged terrain and poorly maintained roads in regions like Balochistan exacerbate the risk of such incidents.
On May 18, 13 people from the same family were killed in a truck accident in Punjab’s Khushab district. On May 3, 20 people lost their lives, and 21 others were injured in a bus accident in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pakistan is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for bus travel. Frequent deadly bus accidents highlight a pattern seen across developing nations from Asia to Africa to the Americas.
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In these regions buses serve as a main modes of transport especially for rural residents who lack access to widely accessible rail networks.
While buses are among the safest modes of travel in the United States and Europe, research indicates that the opposite is true in the developing world. Bus rides in these regions are deadly. Various factors contribute to this reality, as outlined below.
One of the factors contributing to bus accidents in developing countries is the behavior of bus drivers. A 1999 study in Karachi, Pakistan, found that risky behaviors by both bus commuters and drivers such as jumping off moving buses and buses stopping in the middle of the road, led to a disproportionate number of bus accident fatalities among road traffic accidents.
More studies continue to highlight driver error as a critical issue. A 2023 study examining bus accidents in five developing countries like Nepal, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Tanzania, and India identified driver error as the overriding factor in these accidents and recommended better training programs for drivers.
Another study from 2022 focusing on Thailand found that drowsy drivers and those who disobeyed traffic rules were major factors in serious bus accidents.
Poor infrastructure hampers bus travel safety in developing countries. This includes inadequate road construction, insufficient lighting, and hazardous road conditions.
Officials attributed a bus crash earlier this month in northern Pakistan, which killed at least 20 people, to heavy rain and muddy terrain that made the highways slippery.
In December 2023, 17 people died after a bus with malfunctioning brakes drove into a ravine in central Philippines, on a section of the road known locally as the “killer curve.”
Another major cause of bus accidents is inadequate vehicle maintenance and lax enforcement of safety protocols.
In many cases, safety prevention measures are not properly implemented due to lax government regulations and insufficient supervision within transport companies.
A study of major coach and bus accidents in China found that the lack of proper safety prevention measures contributed to the high accident rates.
Earlier this month, 11 people, mostly high school students died in Indonesia after their bus swerved out of its lane while making a turn and crashed into other vehicles.
Authorities initially detained the bus driver, later attributing the accident to faulty brakes and noting that the bus’s safety permit had expired.
At least 17 pilgrims were killed and 41 injured in a crash in Balochistan’s Hub district. 41 people died when a bus loaded with containers of flammable oil careered off the road into a valley and burst into flames.
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