Dozens die in south Pakistan bus crash

Pakistani rescue workers search through the wreckage of a passenger bus destroyed after colliding with an oil tanker on a highway near Karachi, Pakistan Jan 11, 2015.[Photo/Xinhua]

ISLAMABAD - At least 59 people were killed and four others injured when a passenger bus hit an oil tanker in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on early Sunday morning, hospital sources said.

Dr Semi Jamali, Medical Superintendant of Jinnah Hospital where has rescue teams shifted the victims, said that they have received 59 bodies and four injured people at the hospital.

She said that many bodies are burnt beyond recognition and will be handed over to the families after they are identified by DNA test.

Police said that that the accident was caused by the negligence of the oil tanker driver.

Overloading is also a reason for the heavy loss of lives in the accident, said Mir Mumtaz Jakharai, transport minister of Sindh Province with Karachi as its capital.

Police said the bus carrying 70 passengers burst into flames as it collided with the oil tanker.

Around seven passengers, sitting on the roof of the bus, managed to jump off safely.

The bus driver, cleaner and the oil tanker driver managed to save themselves as well.

A man, a child and two women were the only survivors from inside the bus, said the police.

Local people, who rushed for rescue after the accident, said that the negligence of firefighters resulted in the high fatality figure.

They said that the firefighters were poorly equipped when they reached at the accident site and the machinery they had was not enough to extinguish such a big fire.

A firefighter said that the bus was already enveloped by fire when they reached the site, so it was impossible for them to save the people inside.

The accident occurred on the country's Super Highway when the bus was heading from Karachi to Shikarpur, a city in the northern part of Sindh Province.

Both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain expressed grief over the accident.