At least 12 reported dead in coach–minibus collision near Uthal

How many passengers were killed near Uthal, and how are the injured faring? Those are the urgent questions after a head-on collision between a passenger coach and a minibus in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Police figures reported by Dawn put the deaths at at least 12, but differing casualty accounts and the absence of a subsequent confirmed medical update leave the full human cost unresolved. ^{1 3 11}

The vehicles collided on Friday, October 23, 2026, at Zero Point near Uthal in Lasbela district, on the Quetta–Karachi Highway. Seven passengers died at the scene and five others died in hospital, police told Dawn. The exact time of the collision has not been established. ¹

The clearest account of the medical response comes from Abdul Hakeem Lasi, the in-charge of the Edhi Centre in Bela. He told Dawn that Edhi workers took around 22 injured passengers to hospital before they were transferred to Karachi for treatment. He described seven injured passengers as being in serious condition and said most of the casualties were in the minibus. ¹

That establishes a substantial movement of patients beyond the crash area. It does not establish a final injury total. The number Lasi described concerns passengers taken into care and transferred onward; it cannot safely be treated as a complete accounting of everyone hurt.

Business Recorder’s October 23 report also gives at least 12 deaths, identifying five women and seven men among those killed. It puts the number injured above 25 and describes many as critical. No victims’ names have been established in the verified accounts. ³

The difference between more than 25 injured and around 22 transferred might reflect different groups of patients. But there is no patient list or shared assessment time demonstrating that explanation. The figures must remain separate: adding them would risk counting the same people twice, while choosing one as definitive would claim more certainty than the reporting supports. ^{1 3}

A further account from TV ONE USA gives 11 deaths and describes more than 20 people as seriously injured. It says bodies and injured people were taken to an unnamed nearest hospital. Its serious-injury figure differs markedly from Lasi’s seven, and its death toll differs from the police-reported minimum of 12. Neither discrepancy has been reconciled. ^{11 1}

Mezopotamya Ajansi reports 12 dead and more than 20 injured, without settling the final injury count. These are separate reported totals, not a verified sequence showing the toll rising or falling. There is insufficient evidence to say whether the differences arose from timing, patient selection or error. ¹²

The most important missing medical information is not another competing estimate. It is the condition of the patients Lasi described as serious, alongside a reconciled police-and-hospital count. Neither the initial receiving hospital nor the Karachi hospitals treating those transferred have been identified in the verified material.

The coach was travelling from Gwadar to Karachi. Dawn’s police account places the minibus on a journey from Bela to Karachi, a route also reported by DNA News Agency. Yet the minibus’s direction remains unsettled across the initial accounts. Both stated journeys name Karachi as the destination, without explaining how the vehicles came to meet head-on. ^{1 2}

That gap matters. A destination is not a reconstruction of a vehicle’s position immediately before impact. The available reporting does not establish the cause of the collision or responsibility for it. There is no verified investigation finding that would justify assigning fault.

Traffic conditions at Zero Point are also unconfirmed. There is no verified police or highway-authority notice establishing a closure, diversion or reopening. The absence of such a notice is not evidence that the road is open.

For now, the supported account is grave enough without forcing certainty from incompatible figures: at least 12 deaths reported by police through Dawn, injured passengers transferred to Karachi, and seven described as serious by the named rescue official. The transfers show that treatment continued beyond the collision site. They do not yet tell us how those patients are doing. ¹