Twenty dead and 21 injured when bus crashes into a ravine in Pakistan | Accidents

At least 20 people died and more than 21 were injured this Friday when a passenger bus fell into a ravine in a remote area of ​​northeastern Pakistan.

“The driver of the vehicle lost control, probably fell asleep and the bus fell into a ravine,” the spokesman for the emergency services in the Gilgit Baltistan region, where the accident occurred, told EFE news agency.

As a result, “20 people were killed and 21 injured”, although the number of fatalities could rise in the coming hours, Tahir Shah added.

The accident occurred at 5:15 am (1:15 am in Portugal) on the Karakoram highway, located in the remote and mountainous region of Gilgit Baltistan, when the bus was heading towards the Hunza valley.

Pakistan has one of the highest road accident rates in the world, due to poor road and vehicle conditions and overloaded public transport. Around 30,000 people die every year in road accidents in the country, according to Pakistani government data.

Just last month, at least 17 people died and 40 were injured when a truck carrying dozens of pilgrims fell into a ravine in southern Pakistan.