CHAKWAL, Nov 17: Five passengers were killed and fourteen others sustained serious injuries as a bus collided with a truck in the hilly terrain of the Salt Range during wee hours of Thursday.

The sources said that a bus (K-6225) carrying more than sixty passengers was on its way to Raiwind from Malakand Agency when it smashed into a truck from backside near Pir Khara Shrine in the Salt Range on Chakwal-Khushab road. Resultantly, four persons died on the spot while fourteen others sustained critical injuries. One of the injured died at a Rawalpindi hospital later on. Police officials said that thirty six other passengers also received minor injuries.

Soon after the accident, the personnel of Rescue 1122 and Kallar Kahar police rushed to the scene. The injured were shifted to the Fauji Foundation Hospital Kallar Kahar and District Headquarters Hospital Chakwal. “We shifted nine passengers to Fauji Foundation Hospital and the rest were moved to DHQ hospital”, Kamaran Rasheed, District In-charge of Rescue 1122 told Dawn . He said that the accident occurred at about 4:00am.

Four persons who died at the spot were identified as Daud Khan, Mohammad Shafique, Nematullah and Mohammad Kabir. One dead body could not be identified yet. — Nabeel Anwar Dhakku