LORALAI: At least 22 people, including five women and five children, were killed and a teenage boy was injured as a passenger van plunged into a ravine near Balochistan’s Qilla Saifullah district on Wednesday.

The passengers were going from Loralai to Zhob when the accident happened at Akhtar Zai Adola turn.

Rescue officials transported the bodies and the injured 13-year-old teen to the hospital for medico-legal formalities and first aid.

Over speeding and bad road conditions are leading causes of accidents in the country that claimed precious lives, including veteran Baloch politician and National Democratic Party founder Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch. He was killed in a road accident in February.

An accident in May claimed lives of four family members when a passenger bus collided with a car near Bela in Balochistan’s Lasbela district.

At least six people were killed and 14 injured when a passenger bus and a trailer collided in Khuzdar in January.

In another major road accident at Kohri in Khuzdar district of Balochistan last year, at least 19 people were killed, while 50 others were injured.