Karachi: At least 13 people died and nine others injured on Friday after a collision and pile-up on a main bridge on the superhighway outside Karachi in Pakistan’s Sindh province.
A speeding passenger bus coming from the wrong side collided with an oil tanker, with another passenger coach also unable to prevent crashing into the tanker on the M9 Ansari bridge. Khalid Samojo, the area police officer, said that 10 bodies were moved to the Abbasi Shaheed hospital in Karachi as the accident occurred just outside the city. “The death toll has now increased to 13 while nine people are still in hospital in injured condition,” he said.
“Initial investigations suggest that it was the fault of the passenger bus driver who came from the roadside on the bridge and collided with the oil tanker,” he said.
The dead and injured also included pedestrians.
Such accidents on highways in Pakistan are frequent due to a lax system in issuing driving licenses for commercial vehicles, a lack of road safety knowledge and poor condition of roads.