DADU: At least 11 people, including seven women and three children, were killed and 34 others wounded as a bus carrying a wedding party burst into flames at the Khairpur Nathan Shah bypass upon impact with a high-voltage electric cable, police say.
Of the 11 who died, seven were women and three were children.
The men who were on the bus were able to escape before flames engulfed the vehicle. The bride and the groom remained unharmed as they were travelling in a separate vehicle.
Thirty two are critically injured and being treated for burns in various hospitals in the area.
Two who were less-critically injured are being treated at the Khairpur Nathan Shah Hospital (KNSH).
According to hospital sources, KNSH did not have doctors in emergency today, and has no burn ward. Those who were critically injured had to be shifted to other hospitals as adequate arrangements were not available at KNSH.
Fifteen injured were shifted to Civil Hospital Dadu which does not have a burn ward, but did have doctors available.
Fifteen were shifted to Larkana Medical University Hospital where there is a burn ward.
Two were shifted to People’s Medical University Hospital, Nawabshah.
President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed grief and sorrow over the casualties.
Nawaz Sharif asked concerned authorities to ensure such incidents do not happen again. He also directed for provision of the best medical treatment to the injured.
In January, a fatal bus accident claimed the lives of at least 62 people when the bus caught fire after an oil tanker collided with it off the National Highway in Malir.
