What happened near Dhoke Pathan before dawn
A passenger bus plunged into a 100-foot ravine near Dhoke Pathan village in Talagang, Chakwal district, before dawn on Wednesday 7 January 2026, killing five passengers and injuring more than two dozen others. Rescue 1122 and the Talagang assistant commissioner confirmed the toll on the morning of the crash. Dawn, the Express Tribune and Geo News all carried the rescue officials’ account on the day of the crash, and Dawn published a follow-up newspaper version on 8 January.
According to Rescue 1122 spokesperson Qazi Muhammad Akram, the bus left Rawalpindi for Bahawalpur overnight, but several Punjab motorways were shut over fog-related traffic-safety concerns. The driver opted for the Rawalpindi–Talagang–Fatehjang Road instead. Just before 2:15 am, while the bus was passing Dhoke Pathan, on the bank of the Soan River, the driver lost control on a winding stretch and the vehicle plunged about 100 feet down a steep ravine. The Dawn correspondent at the scene reported that local villagers were among the first to reach the wreckage and helped Rescue 1122 personnel pull the dead and injured out.
Four of the dead were identified the same day by Chakwal police and the Rescue 1122 district officer: 56-year-old Abdul Sattar, the driver, of Multan; 40-year-old Zia Ahmed from Kotli Sattian; 33-year-old Mohammad Ishaq from Lodhran; and 45-year-old Ramzan from Multan. A fifth body could not be identified at the time of filing. The Express Tribune placed the injury count at 27 “seriously injured”, and reported that seven women were among the injured, with passengers from Multan, Bahawalpur, Karachi, Layyah, Khanewal, Rahim Yar Khan, Swat and Rawalpindi on board, aged 15 to 60. Geo News also placed the toll at five dead and 27 injured and reported the bus was running from Islamabad to Karachi — a routing that differs from Dawn’s Rawalpindi-to-Bahawalpur account.
The rescue operation and the local response
Fifteen Rescue 1122 officials with five emergency vehicles spent more than two hours on the rescue, according to the spokesperson. District Rescue Officer Dr Mohammad Atique told Dawn the dead had been shifted to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Talagang, and all injured passengers were taken to Talagang City Hospital, where they were being examined. Talagang Assistant Commissioner Suleman Mansha and Deputy Superintendent of Police Malik Azi visited the injured at City Hospital; the AC directed the hospital management to leave no stone unturned in treating them. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz expressed grief over the crash and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured, the Express Tribune reported.
The police officer who confirmed the circumstances was Station House Officer of Saddar Police Station Talagang, Adeel Safdar, who told Dawn the driver had continued his journey despite the fog closure rather than wait it out. “The driver was unaware of the dangerous stretch of the road, which has a steep descent with blind curves, while intense fog further complicated the situation,” the SHO added.
Why this stretch of road keeps recurring in Chakwal crashes
The Talagang assistant commissioner told the Express Tribune that dense fog combined with the hilly terrain caused the bus to lose control, and that motorway and CPEC routes had been closed because of fog, forcing traffic — including the bus — onto the GT Road through the Salt Range. The Punjab branch of the National Highways and Motorway Police had listed stretches of the M-1, M-2, M-3, M-4, M-5 and M-14 as closed for fog on 6 January.
The same Dhoke Pathan curve has been the site of a larger Chakwal bus disaster before. The Dawn follow-up noted that the 7 January crash occurred at the same spot where, in November 2017, a passenger bus crashed and left 24 people dead and 67 injured. The Express Tribune placed the latest incident in a wider pattern: on 1 January 2026, fourteen people were killed and 29 injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a university van on Faisalabad Road; in December 2025, eleven people were killed when a bus overturned on the M-14 near Fateh Jang.
Punjab Rescue 1122 said on the Monday before the crash that it had responded to 1,081 road traffic crashes in the province in the previous 24 hours — 24 deaths and 1,251 injuries. Several key Punjab motorways had been partially closed for fog in the days running up to 7 January, with the authorities urging drivers to exercise extreme caution as fog continued to reduce visibility across large parts of the province.
What remains uncertain
The Express Tribune’s same-day count of 27 injured differs from Dawn’s 24; both figures are from the morning of the crash and reflect initial triage. The fifth deceased had not been publicly identified by the time of the Dawn follow-up on 8 January. The Punjab Highway Patrol investigation into whether the bus was roadworthy, and whether the operator was licensed for the Rawalpindi–Bahawalpur overnight run that had been discouraged during the fog closure, was under way but had not been made public by the editorial cutoff. KhabarWire was unable to confirm an official casualty update from the Chakwal district administration after 8 January.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 7 January 2026.
- Dawn — 5 killed, 24 others injured as bus plunges into ravine near Talagang7 January 2026 · Primary, day-of reporting by Chakwal correspondent Nabeel Anwar Dhakku with Rescue 1122 and Talagang police accounts.
- The Express Tribune — Bus plunges into ravine in Chakwal, killing five amid dense fog7 January 2026 · Independent Pakistan newspaper of record, day-of reporting by Fahim Khan with the Talagang assistant commissioner and Punjab CM statement.
- Geo News — At least five killed, 27 injured as Karachi-bound bus plunges into ravine in Chakwal7 January 2026 · Independent Pakistan broadcaster, day-of reporting with Rescue 1122 and Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz's condolence statement.
- Dawn (newspaper edition) — Five dead as bus plunges into ravine near Talagang8 January 2026 · Dawn's 8 January print/digital version, by the same correspondent, with the SHO and Rescue 1122 district officer accounts and the historical 2017-crash reference.
