A truck and a passenger vehicle collided on Friday in Chagai District of Balochistan, killing ten passengers and badly injuring five others.

Officials said the accident occurred near Dhadar Landhi, close to Dalbandin in Chagai on the RCD Highway N-40 when a trailer travelling from Quetta to Taftan smashed into a Toyota Fielder coming from the opposite direction.

They said the overloaded passenger vehicle was carrying around 15 people, many of whom were travelling long distances to return home or reach their destinations. The impact of the crash was so severe that several passengers died on the spot, while others suffered critical injuries.

Authorities said most of the deceased were Afghan nationals.

Rescue workers and district administration officials rushed to the scene and shifted the injured and deceased to the DHQ Hospital in Dalbandin. Hospital sources said some of the injured passengers remain in critical condition.

Police arrested the trailer driver and started an investigation into the incident to determine what caused the deadly crash. The Quetta-Taftan highway has long been considered a dangerous route, where speeding, careless driving, and poor road conditions continue to put travellers’ lives at risk.