Amman, July 3 (Petra)-- At least 40 people were killed and eight others injured after a passenger bus plunged into a deep ravine in the Shirani district of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Friday, provincial officials told China's Xinhua News Agency.

Shahid Rind, Assistant to the Chief Minister of Balochistan for Political and Media Affairs, said the death toll rose after several of the injured succumbed to their wounds while being transported to hospitals or undergoing treatment.

Police and rescue teams rushed to the scene and evacuated the victims, including women and children, transporting the injured and the bodies of those killed to nearby hospitals.

A rescue official said the crash occurred in a rugged mountainous area, with emergency crews taking more than two hours to reach the site.

According to local police, the accident happened after the driver lost control of the bus while negotiating a sharp bend on a mountain road. The bus was traveling from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, to Peshawar in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

//Petra// MF