QUETTA, Oct 6: At least seven persons were killed and 21 others injured in a head-on collision between a Karachi-bound passenger coach and a trailer near Uthal, some 550kms from Makran coastal highway, on Sunday.

Six passengers, including two personnel of the Coast Guard, died an instantaneous death as the coach and trailer rammed into each other.

Relief teams rushed to the scene and removed the dead and the injured to civil hospital, Uthal.

The critically injured commuters were later shifted to civil hospital, Karachi. They had received multiple head injuries.

Sources said the coach was coming from Gwadar carrying 30 passengers. As it came close to Uthal, its driver could not see the trailer coming from the opposite direction because of the heavy fog, which resulted in the terrible collision.

The manager of the Javed Coach company said that three of its employees — two drivers Lal Mohammad, Imam Bukhsh Mian and an 18-year-old cleaner — were among the deceased.

The other three dead were identified as Bashir Ahmed, Ikram and Ijaz Ahmed.

The Coast Guards men were coming from Gwadar to resume duty in Uthal after being transferred.

Our Staff Reporter from Karachi adds: Of the 15 passengers brought to the CHK here, one succumbed to his injuries.

Hospital sources said the man who breathed his last was identified as Lal Mohammad.

Other passengers admitted for treatment to CHK included Shauk Ali, Khailiur Rehman, Mohammad Ilyas, Saifullah, Javed, Abdul Wahab, Mohammad Inyat, Mithoo, Nazeer, Murad, Nawaz Ali, Ghulam Nabi, Ghulam Haider, Amir Bux.