At least 13 people were killed and more than 20 injured in an accident involving three vehicles at the Multan-Sukkur Motorway in Pakistan’s Punjab province, a rescue official said on Saturday.

An SUV smashed into a bus, which collided with another van that overturned on the highway after one of its tyres burst, resulting in deaths and injuries near Rahim Yar khan city on Friday night, the official said.

Police and rescue teams reached the spot and shifted the dead and injured to the Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan, some 500 kilometres from Lahore.

According to the official, five of the injured were in critical condition.

The official said the police were further investigating the causes of the accident.

Caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab province Mohsin Naqvi, expressed grief over the loss of precious human lives in the traffic accident. He has directed the administration to provide the best possible treatment to the injured.

The chief minister also sought a report about the accident.

This was the second such accident in less than a week in Punjab province.

Earlier this week, a fatal bus accident left at least 15 people, including six women, dead and over 60 others injured in the Kallar Kahar Salt Range area in the Rawalpindi division of Punjab.

On January 29, at least 41 had been killed when a passenger bus careened into a ravine and caught fire near Chinki stop in the Lasbela district of Balochistan province.

Sources PTI