Death Trap on a Mountain Highway: 40 Killed as Overcrowded Bus Plunges Into Ravine in Southwest Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan — A speeding, overcrowded passenger bus lost control on a mountain highway in southwestern Pakistan in the early hours of Friday and plunged into a rocky ravine, killing 40 people and injuring eight others in one of the deadliest road accidents the country has seen in recent years.
The disaster struck in Dana Sar, a remote and rugged area near the border of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces — one of the most geographically treacherous stretches of road in the country, where sheer drops and narrow mountain passes leave little room for error.
Shahid Rind, spokesperson for the Balochistan government, confirmed the death toll and identified a contributing factor that has become tragically familiar in Pakistan’s road tragedies: dangerous overcrowding. The bus, he said, was not only carrying its own passengers but had taken on additional passengers from a second bus that had broken down along the route — leaving the vehicle loaded well beyond its safe capacity when the driver lost control.
Rescue workers and volunteers were dispatched to the scene immediately, working in difficult terrain to recover bodies and transport the injured to medical facilities. Rind said rescuers were working to identify those killed in the crash, indicating that the full extent of the human loss was still being established as search and recovery operations continued through Friday.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari responded swiftly, expressing sorrow over the crash and extending condolences to the families of those killed. He wished a speedy recovery to the survivors.
Road safety remains a chronic and deadly crisis across Pakistan. The country’s roads, particularly in mountainous provinces such as Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are among the most dangerous in the world. Poorly maintained highways, ageing and overloaded vehicles, inadequate enforcement of traffic regulations and treacherous mountain terrain combine to produce a devastating annual toll. Pakistan records thousands of road traffic fatalities each year, with overloaded buses on mountain roads a recurring cause of mass casualty accidents.
The Dana Sar crash follows a long and grim list of similar tragedies in the region. In 2023, more than 40 people were killed when a passenger bus fell into a ravine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In October 2021, at least 17 people were killed and dozens injured when a bus plunged into a ditch in Balochistan. Rights groups and transport safety advocates have repeatedly called on authorities to enforce passenger limits, mandate vehicle safety standards and improve road infrastructure in the country’s most hazardous mountain corridors — calls that Friday’s disaster will intensify once again.
Investigation into the precise cause of the crash was underway as of Friday afternoon.

Source BBC NEWS