At least 18 passengers, including women and children, were killed and 14 injured in an accident on a motorway near Pindi Bhattian on Sunday morning, Aaj News reported.

The injured and dead bodies were taken to a nearby public hospital.

Only ten passengers were able to escape unhurt, taking advantage of the vehicle’s emergency exit.

According to rescue workers, an electric short-circuit started the blaze that quickly spread to the entire vehicle.

The majority of the passengers were asleep when the fire broke out early on Sunday morning.

Witnesses reported that the bus was reduced to a skeleton after hours of fire.

According to them, the bus was moving at high speed when the fire started, and although the driver tried to slow it down, the bus struck an oil delivery van. The fire was made worse by the impact and the oil on the van.

The drivers of both vehicles died, police said.

On Pakistan’s highways, where safety norms are regularly disregarded, such accidents occur frequently.

More than 40 people were killed in January after a bus fell into a ravine and caught fire in the southern Pakistani province of Balochistan.