10 killed in Pakistan bus crash
At least 10 children died today when a bus carrying them on a school excursion crashed on a highway in south-eastern Pakistan, officials said.
Many of the other 61 people on the bus, including the driver and conductor, suffered injuries in the accident near Kalar Kahar, about 75 miles south-east of the capital, Islamabad, said Abid Hussain, a spokesman for the highway police.
The 10 students died at the scene, Hussain said.
Fifteen of the survivors suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospitals, Hussain said.
The children, many of them under age 10, were travelling to Khewra, the sight of Pakistan’s oldest and largest salt mines, from the city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad, said police official Malik Mohammed Sabir.
The bus swerved into the opposite lane, fell into a ditch and smashed into a roadside safety barrier, Sabir said.
Police have launched an investigation, Sabir said, adding that he suspected the vehicle’s brakes had failed.
Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan where most roads are poorly maintained and public transport drivers have often received little training and work long hours.
