At least four people died and 31 were injured on Thursday when a speeding passenger bus overturned on the National Highway N-65 near Haji Shaher in Balochistan’s Kacchi District, officials said.

Dr Jamshed Marri, dispensary of Sibi Teaching Hospital, told Dawn.com, “As soon as information was received that a Daewoo bus travelling from Sadiqabad to Quetta lost control due to high speed and overturned, Kachhi Levies, Highway Police, and rescue teams immediately reached the spot and started rescue operations.”

The bodies of the deceased and the injured were taken to the Sibi Teaching Hospital, while four critically injured passengers have been moved to Quetta for better medical facilities.

Dr Marri noted that the injured included the bus driver and the conductor.

Police said that according to initial investigations, the cause of the accident appeared to be speeding. However, further investigation into the incident was underway.

Balochistan government spokesman Shahid Rind expressed grief over the accident and said that the government expresses its condolences to the families of the deceased and prays for the speedy recovery of the injured.

He assured that all possible help would be provided to the affected people.

In 2021, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed that 5,608 people lost their lives in road accidents across Pakistan.

More specifically, an alarming increase in road accidents has been registered in cities such as Karachi where 500 people were killed while 4,879 were injured in 2024 due to a host of reasons ranging from reckless driving to construction activities, according to hospital data.