At least 20 people were killed and six injured when a passenger bus collided with an oil tanker on the Multan-Sukkur Motorway near Jalalpur Pirwala district in Pakistan’s Punjab province early Tuesday morning local time. Dawn’s news.
Multan Deputy Commissioner Tahir Wattu confirmed the incident in a statement and said that the Lahore-bound passenger bus rammed the oil tanker from behind at the Jalalpur Peerwala Interchange of the Motorway.
The statement added that after the clash, fire broke out and 20 people died on the spot.
Later Multan Commissioner Aamir Khattak also confirmed the matter in a tweet. He said that the accident happened around 4 am local time.
However, a statement from the Provincial Monitoring Center of Rescue 1122 in Lahore said that the accident occurred at 2:20 am.
Photos of the crash site shared by the commissioner showed the charred wreckage of the bus and oil tanker.
DonNewsTV quoted a spokesperson of the Motorway Police as saying that the tanker was carrying thousands of liters of petrol. It was initially reported that the bus driver fell asleep in the accident.
Dr. Medical Superintendent of Multan Nishtar Hospital. Amjad Chandi also told Dawn.com that four of the injured have been initially shifted to the burn unit and arrangements are underway to keep 20 bodies in the hospital morgue.
Later, DC Wattu said in another statement that DNA test process is being started to identify the victim.
(16 Aug)