At least 17 people were killed in a collision between a passenger coach and a truck carrying fuel in Hub tehsil of Balochistan's Lasbela district on Monday, officials said.
The bus with 33 people on board was travelling to Panjgur from Karachi when it collided with the truck.
A huge fire broke out after the collision, reportedly because the truck was carrying Iranian diesel. Huge flames engulfed the coach and the truck and trapped those inside the two vehicles.
As rescue workers pulled out the bodies from the bus and the truck, the death toll rose to 14, Deputy Commissioner Lasbela Shabbir Mengal said.
At least 16 people were injured, five of them critically, and were shifted to a local hospital.
Efforts to shift the injured to Karachi — made because of a lack of facilities at the local facility — were delayed due to an absence of ambulances. The injured were finally on their way to Karachi once Edhi ambulances reached the accident site.
Edhi rescue workers are making efforts to pull out the remaining passengers from the bus. Rescue workers are also in the process of extinguishing the blaze engulfing the vehicles.
The collision led to the bus catching fire, which burnt 17 people to death while 16 others jumped off the bus in an attempt to save their lives.Rescue officials including law enforcement agencies personnel rushed to the incident site, who faced difficulty in carrying out the rescue operation due to the intensity of the fire.
Injured and bodies were shifted to a nearby hospital.
