BADIN, Feb 12: Three persons were killed and 20 others injured after a passenger coach plunged into a deep ravine near Kario Ghanwar, some 55 kilometres from here on Thursday.

It was learnt that the accident occurred after the tie-rod of the passenger coach (QA-0708), which was on its way to Hyderabad via Kario Ghanwar, broke down near Kario Ghanwar town.

Three persons, Akbar 18, Muhammad Ayub Jatoi, and another unidentified person were killed in the accident. The names of the injured could not be ascertained till the filing of this report.

The driver of the van escaped from the spot. Kario Ghanwar police have registered a case and the bodies of the deceased were shifted to the Shaheed Fazil Rahu Taluka Hospital for post-mortem.

Communications: The government has assigned a higher priority to the development of communication network along Sindh's coastal belt, linking remote villages and towns with the rest of the country and spurring economic development projects in Badin, Thar and Thatta districts.

This was stated by Sindh minister for communication and services Arbab Ghulam Raheem while speaking at a public gathering at the Suleman Nuhrio village, 47 kilometres from here, on Thursday.

The minister said that the Sindh government sought to improve economic conditions in the province's coastal areas, adding that ambitious programmes were underway to provide facilities in these areas.