ISLAMABAD, July 3. /Dunyo IA/. At least 40 people, including women and children, were killed after a passenger bus plunged into a ravine in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, reports Dunyo IA correspondent, citing Pakistani broadcaster “Geo News.”

According to police, the accident occurred in the Danasar area of Zhob district after the bus’s braking system reportedly failed. Eight other people were injured and taken to the district hospital.

Shahid Rind, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister of Balochistan on Media, said the bus was traveling from Quetta to Islamabad and was carrying 48 passengers at the time of the crash. Preliminary information indicates that the vehicle was overloaded after taking on passengers from another bus that had broken down earlier.

Authorities in Balochistan and the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have launched a joint rescue operation. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), medical services, Frontier Corps units, and other emergency agencies are involved in the operation.

The Balochistan government has ordered an investigation into the cause of the tragedy. The provincial transport minister has been instructed to determine all the circumstances surrounding the accident and submit a detailed report. According to Shahid Rind, the investigation will be conducted impartially, and any negligence will be dealt with accordingly.

President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and instructed authorities to ensure that the injured receive all necessary medical treatment.

Meanwhile, another tragedy occurred in neighbouring Afghanistan, where a truck carrying 22 Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan fell into a river on the Kabul–Jalalabad highway. According to military officials, four people were killed, while another 10 remain missing.