SUKKUR: Twenty people were killed and six others injured when a passenger coach hit an oil tanker from backside and later caught fire on Multan-Sukkur motorway near Jalal Pur Pirwala Interchange.
The coach was on its way to Karachi from Lahore.
According to Rescue 1122 Multan, the dead bodies and injured have been shifted to Nishter Hospital Multan.
The accident took place when the speeding sleeper bus went out of control and collided with an oil tanker on the highway, according to Motorway officials. Traffic remained suspended on the accident spot at M-5 Motorway for several hours.
The oil tanker and the bus caught fire soon after the collision, according to the spokesperson of the Motorway Police.
According to the spokesman, the fire was so intense and terrifying that it was visible from a distance.
Most of the passengers were rescued alive from the burning vehicles and were immediately transported to nearby hospitals. At least nine passengers were safely rescued from the burning bus.
The police spokesperson further said that it took several hours for the rescue teams to extinguish the fire.
President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have expressed deep grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in a traffic accident on M-5 near Jalal Pur Pirwala Interchange. In their separate statements today, they prayed for the departed souls and commiserated with the bereaved families.
The President directed to provide every possible medical treatment to those injured in the accident. He said effective steps need to be taken to avert such accidents.
Meanwhile, in another accident, at least eight people, including four women and two children, were killed and 25 others sustained injuries when a passenger coach turned upside down near National Highway Rohri, Sukkur.
According to details, the passenger coach was on its way from Punjab to Karachi when it overturned near Rohri Motorway Interchange, killing five passengers on the spot. The wounded passengers mostly include four-to-five-year children.
Soon after the incident, police and rescue teams rushed to the site and shifted the injured to district and civil hospitals.
