QUETTA, PAKISTAN (AP) – A speeding bus veered off a narrow mountain road and plummeted into a ravine in a remote area of southwest Pakistan yesterday, killing 22 passengers including women and children, a government official said.
The accident happened in the district of Qilla Saifullah in Baluchistan province.
Deputy District Administrator Mohammad Qasim said rescuers transported the bodies to a nearby hospital. There were apparently no survivors, he added. Qasim initially said 18 people died in the accident but later added that rescuers retrieved four more bodies from the badly destroyed wreckage of the bus.
He said relatives of passengers who died in the crash were arriving at a hospital to receive their bodies.
The exact cause of the crash was not immediately known.
Authorities said the weather was fine at the time of the crash, and that police officers were looking into possible mechanical problems or human error as witnesses said the bus appeared to be speeding when it lost control and fell into a ravine.
Eyewitness Abdul Ali told AP by phone that he was traveling on the same road on motorcycle when he saw a small bus going faster, skidding and falling into a ravine.
