HYDERABAD: At least 18 people including children and women were killed and several injured after a passenger bus caught fire in Jamshoro, Sindh on Wednesday, local media reported.
Deputy Commissioner Jamshoro told the media that the death toll rose to 16. However, two more succumbed to burn injuries, DHO Jamshoro said. The deceased include eight children and nine women.
Media reports said that the incident took place near Nooriabad. Police officials told the media the fire brigade put out the blaze in the bus while dead bodies and injured were shifted to a nearby hospital.
Police official Wajid Thahim said that bodies, including five children and three women, had been recovered from the coach. He said that the wounded had been shifted to Trauma Centre, Nooriabad, LUMS and Civil Hospital, Hyderabad.
He expressed fear the death toll might increase as several passengers had received critical burn injuries.
He told the media that the coach was packed with flood-affected people of Khairpur Nathan Shah, who were returning from Karachi to their village Nazar Muhammad Mugheri.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah also expressed grief over the loss of lives in the incident.
He also directed the local administration and Police officials to provide survivors with all possible support apart from mobilizing emergency services to provide medical attention to the injured.
