Pakpattan accident: 11 killed, 33 injured as bus hits truck on Depalpur Road
At least 11 people died and 33 were hurt when a Multan bus hit a 10-wheeler truck near Pakpattan on Thursday. What happened and the rescue.
At least 11 people were killed and 33 injured on Thursday, 5 November, when a passenger bus collided with a 10-wheeler truck on Depalpur Road near Pakpattan in Punjab.
The bus had left Multan. Officials gave different final stops, Kasur in some accounts and Lahore in others. Many passengers were trapped in the wreckage.
A three-hour rescue
Rescue 1122 teams used cranes and other heavy machinery during an operation of about three hours to pull people out. The injured were taken to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital in Pakpattan, where an emergency was declared and extra staff were called in.
Among the dead were uniformed personnel who had been travelling on the bus, including a Rescue 1122 official, according to officials. Reports differ on which other forces they served in.
Cause still unknown
The exact cause of the collision has not been confirmed. Police are investigating.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz asked the authorities for a report on the crash.
A dangerous road season
Punjab’s highways are busy in November, with wedding season travel, crop transport and the first winter fog. Single-carriageway roads like Depalpur Road, where buses and heavy trucks share two lanes, see some of the worst crashes. The basic safety advice holds: slow down at night and in fog, keep headlights dipped, and avoid overtaking trucks on narrow roads.
Police have not yet released the names of the dead.
