What happened
Ten people, including a girl, died and more than a dozen others were injured when a speeding passenger coach overturned on the Makran Coastal Highway at Hudd Goth near Ormara tehsil in Gwadar district, Balochistan, on Saturday 17 January 2026, according to rescue and police officials.
The coach was travelling from Karachi to Jiwani, Coastal Highway Superintendent of Police Aslam Bangulzai told Dawn. Earlier in the day the officer had put the toll at nine dead and 14 wounded, before the Edhi rescue service reported that 10 people had died in the accident. Geo News also reported that at least 24 people had died across the two separate crashes on the same day.
The bodies and the injured were initially taken to PNS Darman Jah Hospital in Ormara. The Edhi rescue service said it had sent a mobile morgue to Ormara to bring the bodies to Karachi.
Why it matters
The SP said the deceased hailed from various parts of Sindh and were travelling to Jiwani for work, reflecting the route’s role for labourers moving between Sindh and the Makran coast. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti spoke by telephone with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to discuss the accident, his office said, and the two reviewed the condition of the injured and the treatment being provided.
On the chief minister’s directives, critically injured passengers were being airlifted to private hospitals in Karachi for advanced care, and Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Naqeebullah Khan was instructed to ensure the immediate shifting of the injured. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed sorrow over the loss of life, Radio Pakistan reported. Earlier in January, a bus plunged into a ravine in Talagang, killing five, and the prime minister announced a Rs300bn Chaman-Karachi highway.
What is still uncertain
Initial casualty figures changed through the day, with the police initially reporting nine dead and 14 injured before the toll rose to 10. Neither the police nor the Edhi service published the names of all the deceased or a full breakdown of the injured. The exact cause of the driver’s loss of control, and whether any action would follow against the coach operator, had not been made public by the editorial cutoff. The number of injured treated in Karachi after transfer was also not immediately specified.
