Pakistan road crashes kill at least 24 people and injure 45 others

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ISLAMABAD (AP) — A truck plunged into a canal and a passenger bus overturned, in separate road crashes hours apart in Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 24 people and injuring 45 others, officials said.

The first crash happened in Sargodha, a city in the eastern Punjab province, where a truck carrying passengers and cargo skidded off the road and fell into a canal amid heavy fog. Fourteen people were killed and nine others were injured, according to police and rescue officials.

In a separate crash, at least 10 people were killed and 36 others were injured when a speeding passenger bus overturned on the Makran coastal highway in the southwestern Balochistan province, senior police official Aslam Bangulzai said. The bus was traveling from the southern city of Karachi to Jiwani, a town in Balochistan, he said.

Traffic crashes are common in Pakistan and are often blamed on reckless driving, poor road conditions and weak enforcement of traffic laws.