The bus was travelling from Quetta to Peshawar, when it crashed in the Dana Sar mountain range, on the border between Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, at about 08:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Friday. A government official at Zhob Hospital told BBC News that a total of 48 people, including a number of women and children, had been on board when the accident happened.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, but preliminary reports suggest a steering fault may have led the driver to lose control before skidding off the mountain range. Photographs from the scene showed the badly damaged bus following its plunge to the bottom of the ravine. Officials confirmed the injured were taken to the District Headquarters hospital in Zhob, about 68km (42 miles) from the crash site. "The bus fell approximately 70 to 80 feet [21-24m] into the ravine," Sanaullah Sherani, the head of Zhob district's emergency service, told AFP news agency. Dozens of emergency responders and ambulances were deployed to the scene following the crash, but rescue and recovery efforts were hampered by the difficult terrain. The bodies of those killed were also taken to the hospital and following identification, will be transported to their hometowns by ambulance. (BBC)