BAHAWALPUR, Oct 10: Nearly two dozen commuters, including nine students and six women, were killed and over 60 injured when their bus collided head on with a trailer on the Lodhran-Khanewal road, 50km from here, on Friday morning.

Lodhran District Police Officer (DPO) Syed Khurram Ali confirmed the death of 21 people and injuries to 54. Two dozen of the injured were brought to the local Bahawal Victoria Hospital where the condition of 16 was stated to be serious.

According to Rescue 1122 sources, the overloaded bus belonging to Al-Madina Transport Company was coming to Bahawalpur from Faisalabad. Students headed for Lodhran from small towns and villages were sitting on the roof.

When the bus reached near Gopal Pul, Duniyapur area, its driver could not control the steering in an attempt to overtake a truck.

As a result it collided with a fertiliser-laden trailer coming from the opposition direction and turned turtle.

Twenty of the dead were identified as Dr Jahanzeb Babar, Muhammaf Hanif, Nazir, Mubarak Ali, Rukhsana, Zehra Bibi, Zahida, Munir Ahmad, Muhammad Imran, Zainab, Allah Wasaya, Shaukat, Tassawar Hussain, Zahoor Mai, Afia, Abdul Jabbar, Afzal Sajid, Ghulam Hussain and Ghulam Jannat. The bodies were taken to the Lodhran District Headquarters Hospital.

Some of the injured at the BVH told Dawn that the accident took place due to overspeeding by the bus driver.

An emergency was declared at the BVH where ambulances brought the injured from Gopal Pul.

Quaid-i-Azam Medical College Pricipal Prof Dr Attiqur Rehman and Ms Dr Habibur Rehman supervised the medial aid to the injured. The principal said that three teams rendered medical assistance to the injured, who included 22 male and two female.

Casulty incharge Dr Muhammed Yousaf Rana said nine seriously injured passengers were shifted to neuro-surgery and seven to orthopaedic wards.

Punjab minister for special education Malik Muhammed Iqbal Channar, MPA Zulfiqar Ali Khan, ex-MPA and Punjab task force chairman Samiullah Chaudhury and District Coordination Officer Mushtaq Ahmed visited the hospital.