Road accident kills 26 students in Pakistan

At least 26 students were killed and 78 others were injured in a road accident in eastern Pakistan Monday night, a police officer and doctors in the area said.

Kamran Rashid, spokesman for the emergency police rescue service, said that the accident took place due to overloading near Kalar Kahar, a town some 125 km from the capital Islamabad.

Local media reported earlier that the accident occurred due to brake failure of the bus. Poor light was also blamed for the accident.

Police said that the bus had the capacity of 72 persons but it was overloaded with 105 students in violation of the traffic rules.

A police officer in Kalar Kahar, Malik Ehsan, said that 26 students were killed and 78 others were injured, making it one of the worst accidents in years. Doctors registered other 26 students in critical condition.

He said the injured were shifted to hospitals in Chakwal, a city some 25 kilometers away from the accident site.

The accident took place when the children, from Millat Grammar School in the industrial city of Faisalabad, were on their way home after a picnic in Kalar Kahar, also a tourist destination.

A spokesman for the traffic police said that the driver lost control over the bus when he was taking a turn in the Salt Rang on the Motorway between the capital Islamabad and Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

Residents said that there had been accidents at the same area in the past.

The police rescue said that the bus was cut to rescue bodies and injured from the wreckage of the bus.

Police said that investigation will be carried out against the school management as to why they violated the rules to pack the bus with 105 students and teachers when it had the capacity of 72 persons.