Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Thursday that terrorism cannot be ruled out from the Dasu bus tragedy in Kohistan, saying that initial investigations confirmed traces of explosives.
A day ago, 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, had died when a coach carrying them to an under-construction tunnel site of the 4,300-megawatt Dasu hydropower project fell into a ravine in the Upper Kohistan area after an explosion.
“Initial investigations into Dassu incident have now confirmed traces of explosives, terrorism cannot be ruled out, PM is personally supervising all developments, in this regard Govt is in close coordination with Chinese embassy we are committed to fight menace of terrorism together,” he wrote on Twitter.
Thirteen people, including nine Chinese nationals, two personnel of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) and two locals, were killed and 28 others sustained injuries when a coach carrying them to an under-construction tunnel site of the 4,300-megawatt Dasu hydropower project fell into a ravine in the Upper Kohistan area after an explosion on Wednesday.
According to eyewitnesses, three vehicles were on their way to the Dasu dam site in a convoy after picking up Chinese labourers in the morning from Barseen camp – some eight kilometres from Dasu district headquarters of Upper Kohistan – via the Karakoram Highway when the blast occurred.
Sources privy to the investigation said a Chinese national was missing and a search for his whereabouts was under way. “After the explosion, the coach fell into the riverside but the two other vehicles, a coaster and a jeep, remained safe in the incident,” one of the eyewitnesses said.
There were conflicting reports about the cause of the tragic incident. Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) said “leakage of gas” caused by a “mechanical failure” resulted in the blast in the bus after which it plunged into the ravine. However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian had termed the incident a “bombing”.
