Pakistan bus fire kills 18 flood survivors, including eight children and nine women

Short-circuit in air conditioning unit of bus reported as cause of fire

At least 18 Pakistani flood survivors, including eight children and nine women, were killed and several injured after a passenger bus carrying them caught fire late on Wednesday.

About 80 people belonging to Mugheri tribe were travelling from the southern port city of Karachi to their hometown of Khairpur Nathan Shah in Dadu district after they heard that the water levels had receded.

However, as the bus reached the Nooriabad hills hike in Sindh province, there was a short circuit in the air conditioning unit, which has been reported as the cause of the fire.

Since the incident took place in the proximity of the local police station and fire service station “lives of many bus passengers” could be saved, said police officer Hashim Brohi.

He said rescue services moved the injured passengers to the main hospitals in Jamshoro and Nooriabad.

Meanwhile, Sindh’s chief minister Murad Ali Shah has ordered the local authorities, including the deputy commissioner and superintendent of police of Jamshoro, to ramp up rescue efforts, and sought a report from officials on the incident.

Dadu is among the worst flood-hit districts in Sindh province. At least 1,700 people have died and nearly 33 million displaced after the unprecedented torrential rains hit parts of the country since mid-June.

The state-run Pakistan Television reported that the latest flooding displaced thousands of people in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh provinces.

More than 600,000 homes have been destroyed while several have been left without shelter, electricity or gas.

Meteorologists say these provinces have received around four times the 30-year average expected rainfall during this period.

Additional reporting from the wires