Passenger bus plunges into ravine in Pakistan killing 19 people

Not less than 19 people have been confirmed dead after a commercial bus carrying 35 passengers skidded off a mountain road in heavy rain and fell into a deep ravine in the Balochistan province of Pakistan on Sunday morning, government officials say.

12 passengers were also injured as rescue workers tried to salvage the situation.

According to Mahtab Shah, the assistant administrator for the district of Shirani in Balochistan province, the bus was travelling from the capital Islamabad to Quetta city when the accident occurred.

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The death toll is expected to rise since many of those injured were in critical condition, Shah said while briefing journalists, adding that rescue workers were searching for survivors in the wreckage of the destroyed vehicle and surroundings that borders Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Shah said “apparently the bus slid on the wet road amid heavy rain and the driver lost control of the vehicle, which fell about 200 feet (61 metres) into the ravine.”

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