A passenger bus veered off a mountainous road in South-Western Pakistan and plunged into a ravine after extreme heat caused tyres to burst, killing at least 27 people, including women and children.
Officials said on Wednesday.
The accident occurred early morning in the town of Washuk when the bus was travelling to the city of Quetta, the capital of the province of Balochistan, local official Asmat Ullah told dpa.
At least 22 survivors were being treated at a hospital in the nearby town of Baseema, Ullah added.
Some of them were in a critical condition.
The extreme weather caused the accident as most parts of Pakistan sizzled in a heatwave for a second week with temperatures in a few towns soaring beyond 50 degrees Celsius.
The heatwave, the first this summer for the climate-vulnerable South Asian nation, was expected to last for another week, Chief Metrologist Sardar Sarfraz said.
Bad roads, poorly-maintained vehicles and a substandard safety regime caused numerous accidents in Pakistan every year, causing thousands of deaths.
This is according to the government statistics released on Wednesday. (dpa/NAN)
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