A bus reportedly collided with an oil tanker on Sunday on a road in Southern Pakistan, igniting a fire and leaving at least 62 of the passengers dead, police officials confirmed.

The bus driver and his conductor were able to escape death as they jumped out of the vehicle before it caught fire and before it was about to crash. Officials launched a manhunt for the bus driver who fled the scene and is still on the run, according to authorities.

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The accident took place outside Karachi, the financial capital and the largest city of Pakistan, located in Sindh province. The authorities noted that the bus was on its way to Shikarpur, another district in Sindh province, when the crash occurred.

Rao Anwar, a senior police official, said that the accident happened while the vehicles were on a single-track road that was connected to the main highway. The incident is being blamed on the reckless driving of the drivers and the poor road conditions of the said highway.

Anwar added that the fire originated from a gas cylinder from the bus and not from the fuel or oil tank from the truck. Rescue workers who responded to the incident noted that intense heat caused the melting of the frame of the bus. Rescuers were forced to cut the vehicle in order to retrieve the bodies of the victims.

According to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center in Karachi, they received 59 bodies of the victim including the eight women and two children. All of the victims suffered from severe burns.

There were three more passengers who were slightly injured while eight others were able to escape the bus with no complications or injuries.

The fatal crash is not the first that happened in Sindh as back in November last year, 56 people were killed in a collision. Officials are blaming the poor highway infrastructures and the unlawful release of licenses to unqualified drivers.

Tagsoil tanker, vehicular accident, Pakistan, bus crash, massive fire