KARACHI: At least 18 people, including 12 children, were burned to death when a bus carrying flood survivors from Karachi to their homes in Khairpur Nathan Shah in Sindh province caught fire on M9 Motorway near Nooriabad, officials said.
More than 70 people on board the bus were flood victims who had taken shelter in Karachi fleeing one of the worst flood-hit areas after the deluge submerged their villages in Khairpur Nathan Shah, police and rescue officials said.
They were travelling back to their homes as the water is slowly receding. “They were going back to their home when the tragedy befell them,” said Vinod Kumar, a district health official. All the flood victims were from the same Mugheri community.
“At least 18 bodies have been recovered from the bus. There are 12 children, two women and three men among the dead,” Qasim Soomro, Sindh’s parliamentary secretary of health, told reporters.
He said that 10 people who sustained minor burn injuries were out of danger. Some passengers reportedly jumped out of the bus to escape the fire. Rescue officials and Edhi volunteers rushed to the scene after receiving the distress call and managed to save lives.
Police said the passengers died when flames broke out overnight on the bus just outside Karachi city. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear but officials believe that the fire first broke out in the air-conditioning system of the bus and engulfed the entire bus, said Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Nooriabad Wajid Thaheem.
As the waters slowly recede, thousands of the displaced - many living in ramshackle tent cities - are travelling back to their sodden homes to remake their lives.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah ordered officials to investigate the cause of the incident and asked the local administration to provide support to the families.
Pakistan’s road safety record is abysmal due to speeding, reckless driving, poor road infrastructure and the use of unfit vehicles.
The historic floods across the nation - which have killed 1,700 - have been linked to climate change.
