BELA (AFP) – At least 51 people were killed in two separate transport accidents in western Pakistan on Sunday, when a bus plunged off a bridge and a boat carrying a class of children capsized.
Forty-one are so far confirmed dead after their bus crashed into a ravine in southwestern Balochistan province, while at least 10 students died in the boating accident in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said.
As many as three are still missing in the waters, with a rescue operation underway.
At the remote site of the bus crash, north of the city of Bela in Lasbela district, senior administration official Hamza Anjum said “the dead bodies... are beyond recognition”.
Anjum said 40 corpses were retrieved from the wreck alongside three injured, one of whom died shortly after. The remaining two survivors were in “serious” condition.
The charred brown husk of the vehicle chassis smoked on a dry riverbed under the bridge on Sunday, according to video released by the provincial government.
A team of men used heavy machinery to move the twisted metal aside and pull out the burnt remains, which were then shrouded in white cloth.
Head of the local rescue service Asghar Ramazan told AFP the bus had been loaded with containers of oil.
“When the bus fell down, it immediately caught fire,” he said. The oil “caused the fire to flare up so much that it was difficult to control”, he added.
The bus was reportedly carrying a total of 48 passengers when it hit a pillar on the bridge and careened off course earlier on Sunday.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local police official Mir Rauf told AFP all of the drowned so far recovered from the boating accident on Tanda Dam lake were aged between seven and 14.
A total of 17 were rescued alive from the reservoir by Sunday afternoon.
“Everything was normal until suddenly the boat overturned,” said 11-year-old survivor Muhammad Mustafa from his hospital bed in the nearby city of Kohat.
“I got stuck under the boat,” he told AFP. “My shawl and sweater weighed me down, so I took them off.”
“The water was extremely cold and my body went numb. I thought I was going to pass out when a man on an inflatable tube saved me.”
One of the rescued was a teacher, who remained unconscious as the rescue operation continued for up to three pupils still missing.
The class of madrassa students “went out for a picnic and boating” at the scenic location, district police chief Adbul Rauf told AFP.
“According to the information so far, the boat was in a dilapidated condition and it was overloaded too,” he said.