AT least 18 people including children have died after the coach that was taking flood victims home caught fire.
Officials said the fire broke out on Wednesday night on the M-9 motorway near Karachi in Pakistan.
So far, at least 18 passengers have died in the accident, including 12 children, as they were on their way home after fleeing the worst-flood-hit areas, Siraj Qasim Soomro, parliamentary health secretary told reporters.
Around 35 people were travelling on the coach- with some jumping out of the bus to escape the fire.
Jamshoro District Commissioner Asif Jameel said: "Those who were travelling in the bus were flood-affected people who had relocated somewhere off the motorway, and they were heading back home in Dadu district."
Vinod Kumar, a district health official at the scene said: "They were going back to their village when they were overtaken by this accident.
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Police officer Hashim Brohi said it appears the fire broke out in the air-conditioning system of the bus but said the cause will be revealed following investigations.
Brohi said the incident took place near the Nooriabad hills hike, where luckily a police station and a fire service station are located.
The immediate response of the emergency services saved many passengers' lives, he added.
He said rescue services moved the injured passengers to the main hospitals in Jamshoro and Nooriabad.
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The charred bodies will be handed over to relatives after legal formalities.
Pakistan has been hit by catastrophic monsoon rains this year, putting a third of the nation underwater, displacing eight million people, and causing $28 billion worth of devastation.
As the waters gradually recede, thousands of those displaced are travelling back to their sodden homes.
Dramatic footage showed how an entire building was swept away by flood waters as over a million homes were damaged by the killer storm.
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