At least 20 people were killed and six injured when a passenger bus collided with an oil tanker on the Multan-Sukkur Motorway (M-5) in the early hours of Tuesday, officials said.
Multan Deputy Commissioner Tahir Wattoo confirmed the incident in a statement, saying that the passenger bus, which was travelling from Lahore to Karachi, hit the oil tanker from the rear side at Jalalpur Peerwala interchange on the motorway.
A fire erupted after the collision and 20 people died on the spot, the statement added.
Later, Multan Commissioner Amir Khattak also confirmed the development in a tweet. He said the accident had taken place around 4am.
However, a statement issued by Rescue 1122’s provincial monitoring centre in Lahore said the accident took place at 2:20am.
Photographs of the accident’s site shared by the commissioner showed the charred wreckage of the bus and the oil tanker.
Meanwhile, DawnNewsTV quoted a motorway police spokesperson as saying the tanker was carrying thousands of litres of petrol. He added that the apparent cause of the accident was the bus driver falling asleep.
Medical superintendent at Nishtar Hospital, Multan Dr Amjad Chandio told Dawn.com that four of the injured were initially shifted to the facility’s burns unit while arrangements for the 20 dead bodies were also under way at the hospital’s mortuary.
Later, DC Wattoo issued another statement, saying that the process of DNA testing was being initiated for the identification of the deceased.
