Karachi (Web Desk): At least 59 passengers were burned alive after their bus caught fire following a collision with an oil tanker on a link road of National Highway, the Rescue sources said on Sunday.
According to initial details, Al Shoaib coach (JB-1158), with nearly 60 passengers on board, was travelling to Shikarpur from Steel Town in Karachi. It was on the Super Highway when it collided with a tanker just after midnight.
Following the collision, the bus burst into flames with passengers still on board and the doors locked. Around half-a-dozen passengers, who were sitting on the roof of the bus, managed to jump to safety. The bus driver, cleaner and the truck driver managed to save themselves as well. Two women, a man and a child were the only ones rescued from inside the bus.
But as many as 50 passengers, including women and children, were burnt to death.
So intense were the flames that the fire brigade had to be called out to put the blaze out. However, by the time the fire brigade put the flames out, the bus and the tanker had been completely gutted. Police officials said that their initial investigations show that the fire erupted due to the CNG cylinders on the bus.
Once the fire was put out, rescue workers tried to recover the bodies. They had to cut the bus to reach some of the bodies.
Police officials claimed that fire tenders from Steel Town did not arrive on the scene quickly enough to put the flames out. Witnesses said that the first fire tender reached the site nearly two hours after the incident took place.
Further, officials said that the bodies, which have been shifted to Jinnah hospital, and they will be handed over to their heirs after DNA testing is completed to identify them.
Following the incident, the road was shutdown for traffic, causing a traffic jam.
