A landslide struck a passenger bus in northern Pakistan on Sunday, killing all 16 people on board, an official and local media said. The incident took place near mountainous Skardu town — a famous tourist destination in Gilgit-Baltistan region, which borders China.
Miraj Alam, an assistant commissioner for Skardu, told reporters that the massive landslide completely crushed and buried the ill-fated bus. Rescue workers backed by paramilitary troops have pulled out all the 16 bodies from the debris, and cleared the road for traffic, he added.
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Four of the deceased were from the Pakistan Army, local broadcaster Geo News reported.
The spectacular Gilgit-Baltistan region, which is at the confluence of world’s greatest mountain ranges — the Karakoram, the Himalaya, the Hindu Kush, and the Pamir — is prone to landslides which kill dozens of people every year.
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The region is also a key route of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a multi-billion-dollar project aimed at connecting China’s strategically important northwestern Xinxiang province to the port of Gwadar in far away Balochistan through a network of roads, railways and pipelines.
Anadolu with additional input by GVS News Desk