Lasbela Assistant Commissioner Hamza Anjum, while confirming the incident, told Dawn.com that the vehicle, with nearly 48 passengers on board, was travelling from Quetta to Karachi.

“Due to speeding, the coach crashed into the pillar of a bridge while taking a U-turn near Lasbela. The vehicle subsequently careened into a ravine and then caught fire,” he said.

Anjum added that three people, including a child and a woman, have been rescued alive. However, one of the injured persons succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital.

The officer feared that the number of casualties could further increase to 48.

He added that the bodies recovered from the wrecked bus were unidentifiable and DNA testing will be done for the identification of the deceased.