Death toll of Pakistan bus accident rises to 42

Death toll of Sunday morning's bus-trailer accident in Pakistan's south Sukkar district has risen to 42, local media reported. Quoting unidentified police sources, local Urdu TV channel Dunya reported that the accident that happened at about 3:00 a.m. (local time) left 14 kids and 13 women and 15 men killed, and a dozen others injured. The killed include drivers of both the bus and the trailer, and six members of a family who were traveling to Karachi for seeing their relatives, said the report. Fida Husain, Superintendent Police, said that the accident happened at National High Way when the passenger van hit into a trailer. The fatal accident happened near Pano Aqil town of the Sukkur, a district in the country's south Sindh province. The van, that was on its way to the southern port city of Karachi from east Dera Ghazi Khan district, got completely destroyed and compressed in the collision, trapping the injured people inside. Rescue workers broke windows and cut van to bring the injured people out. The injured people were shifted to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. Faisal Abdullah, Superintendent Motorway Police, said that the accident happened due to negligence of the bus driver while trying to overtake the trailer from the wrong side. Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah expressed sorrow over the accident and directed hospital administration to provide best possible medical treatment to the injured people. He also announced a subsidy of 40 thousand (400 dollars) rupees each for the injured people and five lac rupees each (5,000 dollars) for the deceased. Pakistan is among the countries which have the worst record of fatal traffic accidents, mainly due to poor roads, lack of driving skills, badly maintained vehicles and violation of road safety rules. Traffic police officials say that 90 percent of the accidents in the country take place due to human errors.