At least eight people were killed and 30 others injured when a passenger bus collided with a dumper truck near the Havelian Interchange on the Hazara Motorway early on Friday morning, rescue officials said. Four of the injured are in a critical condition, and hospitals in Abbottabad declared an emergency as casualties arrived.
The bus, operated by Faisal Movers, was travelling from Gilgit to Rawalpindi when the crash happened on the M-15 Hazara Motorway in Abbottabad district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Initial reports from Rescue 1122 suggested that one of the bus's tyres burst, causing the driver to lose control before the vehicle struck the dumper truck.
Rescue 1122 Abbottabad sent seven ambulances and a rescue vehicle to the scene after the crash was reported, and the operation was led by District Emergency Officer Hafeezur Rehman. Rescuers treated the injured at the site before shifting them to hospital, and the rescue service said its operation at the scene was completed successfully.
All 30 injured passengers, including five children and six women, were taken to Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad for treatment. An emergency was also declared at Benazir Shaheed Hospital and at the District Headquarters Hospital in Abbottabad, as well as at the Type-D Hospital in Havelian, to make sure the injured received immediate medical care.
The eight people who died were reportedly residents of Gilgit. Their bodies were shifted to different hospitals — four to Ayub Medical Complex, three to the District Headquarters Hospital in Abbottabad and one to the Type-D Hospital in Havelian — while the authorities worked to confirm their identities and inform their families.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi expressed deep grief over the accident and directed that the injured be given the best possible medical care. The Abbottabad deputy commissioner said the injured had been shifted to nearby hospitals immediately and were receiving treatment.
Early reports had put the toll lower, at seven killed and 27 injured, but the figures were revised during the day as more casualties were confirmed, with Dawn updating its report to eight dead and 30 injured. The cause of the crash has not yet been finally established; the tyre burst remains the initial account from rescue officials, and no final investigation finding has been issued.
The crash came a day after another deadly bus collision in Punjab, when 11 people were killed and 33 injured as a passenger bus travelling from Multan to Kasur collided with a truck near Pakpattan on Depalpur Road. In a separate incident on Friday, four people, including two women and two children, were killed when a tractor-trolley overturned near Khusor Road in the Darya Khan area of Bhakkar.
Road crashes remain a persistent danger on Pakistan's highways and motorways, where long-distance buses carry large numbers of passengers between cities and mountain regions. The Gilgit-to-Rawalpindi route crosses difficult terrain, and the Hazara Motorway is one of the main links between the northern areas and the rest of the country, carrying heavy passenger and goods traffic every day.
For now, the toll from the Havelian crash stands at eight dead and 30 injured, and the authorities are expected to update it if the condition of any of the critically injured passengers changes. The crash is a reminder of how quickly an ordinary overnight journey can turn into tragedy, and of the questions it leaves behind for the families waiting in Gilgit and Rawalpindi.
