21 Pakistanis Die in Bus Crashes
14/11/2005| IslamWeb
A pair of bus crashes killed at least 21 people in quake-stricken northern Pakistan, posing new difficulties for emergency workers in a region where more than 86,000 people died in last month's temblor. Eleven people were killed and nine injured when a bus careened off a bridge and into a gorge near the town of Rawla Kot early in the evening.
That came just hours after at least ten people died and an unknown number were injured when another bus fell into the Neelum River further north while travelling along a road just cleared of landslides. The accident occurred near Ghori, about 15km north of the regional capital of Muzaffarabad.
Another witness to the first crash, Salman Shahid, a spokesman for the Islamic charity Jamat-e-Dawad, said 12 people died, including some who had been riding on the vehicle's roof, as is common in Pakistan.
Muzaffarabad and its mountainous surroundings were devastated by the earthquake, and many roads were blocked by landslides or simply disappeared over the sides of cliffs, making land travel in the area extremely dangerous.
In a reminder of the seismic dangers still lurking in the area, a mild earthquake struck northern Pakistan yesterday, although no damage or injuries were reported.
The magnitude 4.0 quake struck in the mountains about 300km northwest of the capital Islamabad, according to the Pakistan's meteorological centre.
The country launched a nationwide volunteer drive to help quake victims, days ahead of an international conference aimed at filling huge funding shortfalls for the disaster.
Officials hope to recruit 1,500 young volunteers to help rebuild shattered homes in the quake zone. Registration forms for volunteers were published in local newspapers under the heading "Be a hope for life."
Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, meanwhile, noted that progress in peace talks with India has been boosted by a series of exchanges of quake relief along their heavily militarized border.
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