A bus has plunged from a highway into a ravine in southwestern Pakistan, killing 40 people, officials say.

“A passenger bus travelling from Quetta to Peshawar plunged into a deep ravine in the mountainous Dana Sar area,” Sanaullah Sherani, the head of Zhob district’s emergency centre, told the AFP news agency on Friday.

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“The bus fell approximately 70 to 80 feet (21 to 24 metres) into the ravine,” Sherani added.

The speeding bus lost control early on Friday and fell into the rocky ravine in a remote area near the border of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, Shahid Rind, a spokesperson for the Balochistan government, told the Associated Press.

Both officials said 40 people were killed. At least eight others were injured.

Rind told AP the bus was carrying not only its own passengers but also passengers from another bus that had broken down, leaving the vehicle overcrowded.

He added that rescuers were working to identify those killed in the crash.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari expressed sorrow over the passenger bus crash, offered condolences to the families of those killed and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

More to come…