A speeding bus carrying mostly labourers travelling home for a major Muslim holiday rammed into a container truck on a busy highway in central Pakistan on Monday, July 19, killing at least 33 people and injuring 40, police and rescue officials said.
The bus had left the city of Sialkot and was travelling on Taunsa Road; its destination was the city of Dera Ghazi Khan in eastern Punjab province, said senior police officer Hassan Javed.
The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation, he said.
Rescuers transported the dead and injured to a nearby hospital.
Sher Khan, the person in charge of the rescue team at the site, said some of the injured were in critical condition. He added that the bus driver was among the 33 killed in the accident.
Khan said the passengers were traveling to their home district of Rajanpur to celebrate the upcoming Eid al-Adha feast.
TV footage and photos circulating on social media showed rescuers trying to pull out bodies from the badly mangled bus. In one image, some of the injured are seen sitting near the bus, waiting for medical help.
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