| Washuk bus accident | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Details | |
| Date | 29 May 2024 Approximately 05:00 (GMT+5) |
| Location | Washuk, Balochistan |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Cause | Exploded tire leading to a fall into a ravine |
| Statistics | |
| Passengers | 54 |
| Deaths | 29+ |
| Injured | 22+ |
In the early morning of 29 May 2024, a bus carrying 54 passengers fell off a mountainous road and into a ravine in Washuk in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, [1] resulting in at least 29 deaths [2] and eight to ten critical injuries. [1]
The mountainous terrain across many areas of Pakistan including Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [1] have hazardous road conditions due to the presence of narrow and steep roads, [3] frequent heavy rainfall, landslides, and lack of road infrastructure funding, which road contribute to frequent lethal road accidents. Among these include the 2023 Lasbela bus crash and the Kallar Kahar school bus accident, both of which were mass casualty events caused by a bus falling into a ravine while traveling mountainous roads.
The bus began its route in Turbat in Southern Balochistan, traveling to its capital in Quetta. [1] 48 people were on board.
Government official Ismail Mengal reported that the bus driver lost control of the bus in a mountainous section of the route after one of its tires exploded. [4] This caused the bus to crash into a hill before falling and sinking into a ravine. Due to the remoteness and the lack of mobile service in the region of the accident, it took longer for information about the accident to reach officials. [5]
At least six victims died at the scene of the accident, while 22 more victims would later succumb to their injuries in the Basima Civil Hospital. [6] Nine casualties were critically injured and were moved to the Combined Military Hospital in Khuzdar, while 17 other casualties were taken to hospitals in Washuk for treatment. The Pakistan Army airlifted four critically injured passengers to a trauma unit in Quetta. Three women and three children were among the dead. [7]
Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Minister of Balochistan Sarfraz Bugti made statements expressing their sorrow for the accident and their sympathies towards the families of victims. [1] Sarfraz Bugti wished the injured a quick recovery and asserted that they be treated with the best medical facilities. [6]
National Party President Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch urged that more two-way roads needed to be constructed in Balochistan to prevent further road accidents, and also expressed his condolences for the families of victims. [6]
Balochistan is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by land area but is the least populated one. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the north-east, Punjab to the east and Sindh to the south-east; shares international borders with Iran to the west and Afghanistan to the north; and is bound by the Arabian Sea to the south. Balochistan is an extensive plateau of rough terrain divided into basins by ranges of sufficient heights and ruggedness. It has the world's largest deep sea port, the Port of Gwadar lying in the Arabian Sea.
Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti was a Pakistani politician and the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baloch people who served as the Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Balochistan Province in Pakistan. He also became minister of state for defence in the cabinet of Feroz Khan Noon. Earlier, he had also served as the Minister of State for Interior.
The Balochistan Liberation Army, is a Baloch ethnonationalist terrorist and militant organization based in Afghanistan. BLA perpetrates its terror activities from its safe havens scattered across Southern Afghanistan into the Pakistan's largest province of Balochistan, where it frequently carries out attacks against the Pakistan Armed Forces, civilians and foreign nationals.
In 2007, 34 terrorist attacks and clashes, including suicide attacks, killings, and assassinations, resulted in 134 casualties and 245 injuries, according to the PIPS security report. The report states that Pakistan faced 20 suicide attacks during 2007, which killed at least 111, besides injuring another 234 people. The PIPS report shows visible increase in suicide attacks after the siege of Lal Masjid.
In 2006, 30 terrorist attacks, including 10 of a sectarian nature, took place, leaving 100 people dead and 230 others injured.
The Kallar Kahar school bus accident was a school bus road accident that occurred on 27 September 2011 near the town of Kallar Kahar in the Chakwal District of Punjab, Pakistan. 37 people, mostly school students, were killed in the disaster.
Mir Sarfraz Bugti is a Pakistani politician who is currently serving as the Chief Minister of Balochistan since March 2024. He belongs to the Pakistan People's Party. Prior to his current role, Bugti has served as Home and Tribal Affairs Minister of Balochistan. Bugti also served as a senator of Pakistan from March 2015 to March 2021.
The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Pakistan.
On 8 August 2016, terrorists attacked the Government Hospital of Quetta in Pakistan with a suicide bombing and shooting. They killed more than 70 people, mainly lawyers, and injured more than 130 others. The fatalities were mainly advocates (lawyers) who had assembled at the hospital where the body of Advocate Bilal Anwar Kasi, the president of the Balochistan Bar Association, was brought after he was shot dead by an unknown gunman. Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by various Islamist groups like Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and the Islamic State. Between 70 and 94 people were killed and over 120 injured. 54 of those killed were lawyers.
On 12 August 2017, a suicide bombing took place near a Pakistan army truck in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan, leaving 15 people dead including 8 soldiers, while injuring 40 others. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province claimed responsibility for the attack.
On 5 October 2017, a suicide bomber targeted the shrine of Pir Rakhel Shah situated in Fatehpur, a small town in Gandawah tehsil of Jhal Magsi district in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province. At least 20 people, including two policemen, were killed and more than 30 others injured in the suicide attack.
Terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2018 include:
Baloch Nationalist Army (BNA) (Urdu: بلوچ نیشنلسٹ آرمی) was a militant group, fighting for the separation of Balochistan province. The group was formed on January 11, 2022, out of a merger of the Baloch Republican Army (BRA), and the United Baloch Army (UBA). BRA and UBA also announced their dissolution following the establishment of Baloch Nationalist Army.
Lieutenant General Chaudhary Sarfraz Ali was a three star Pakistani general who was serving as Corps Commander Quetta since December 2020 and Commander of the Azad Kashmir Regiment since December 2021 until his death in a helicopter crash on 1 August 2022.
The events listed below are both anticipated and scheduled for the year 2023 in Pakistan.
On 29 January 2023, a bus carrying at least 43 people plunged into a ravine and caught fire in Bela Tehsil, Lasbela District, Balochistan, Pakistan. The crash initially killed 40 people and injured three, one of whom died shortly after. The two remaining survivors were in a "serious" condition.
The 2023 Kallar Kahar bus accident occurred on 19 February 2023, near Kallar Kahar, Pakistan. The accident took place when a bus carrying a wedding party from Islamabad to Lahore lost control and fell into a ravine, killing at least 14 people and injuring 64 others.
The events listed below are both anticipated and scheduled for the year 2024 in Pakistan.
