40 killed as bus falls into ditch in Pakistan

QUETTA, July 03 (Reuters): Forty people were killed and eight others injured after a bus fell into a deep roadside ditch in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan on Friday, a rescue agency and a government official said.

The bus, operated by a private intercity service, was headed to national capital Islamabad from provincial capital Quetta, the agency said.

There were 48 passengers on board at the time of the accident, it added.

The eight injured were given first aid and then moved to a government hospital in Zhob city, about 75 km (50 miles) from the accident site in Sherani district, the agency said. The dead were also moved to the same hospital, the agency and Sherani Deputy Commissioner Hazrat Wali said. In a separate incident, four people were killed and 10 others were missing.