At Least 56 Killed In Pakistan Bus Crash

At least 56 people have been killed in a head-on collision between a bus and a goods lorry in southern Pakistan.

Among the dead are 21 women and 19 children, all of whom were under the age of 14.

The official also confirmed 18 passengers were injured in the accident, and warned the death toll was likely to rise.

Several of those injured are in hospital in a critical condition.

It happened near the city of Khairpur, 300 miles (450km) north of Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province.

The bus, carrying about 70 people, was on its way to Karachi from the northwestern city of Swat.

A senior police official said the bus went on the wrong side of the road, collided head-on with the lorry and the vehicles burst into flames.

He said the cause was most likely to have been heavy fog.

Private Pakistani TV channels showed rescue workers carrying victims away from the bus as policemen cleared the road.

One rescuer described how he had pulled a four-year-old girl alive out of the burning bus.

"She was sitting all calm in a seat when I got into the bus on fire," Mohammad Ata said.

Fatal accidents are common on Pakistan's roads because of bad road infrastructure and drivers ignoring traffic laws.

More than 9,000 road accidents are reported every year in which some 5,000 people are killed, according to official statistics.