At least 16 children have been killed as their school bus caught fire in eastern Pakistan, police have said.
At least seven more children were taken to hospital after the incident on the outskirts of the city of Gujrat.
Initial reports said the bus’s gas cylinder had exploded, but a local police chief told AFP news agency it was later found intact.
He said a teacher also died in the blaze. Another police officer told AFP the driver had survived and fled.
Dar Ali Khattak told the news agency the fire was apparently caused by a spark when the driver of the dual-fuel bus switched from gas to petrol.
He said the children were aged between 5 and 15, and were just a few kilometres from their school in Gujrat, about 200km (120 miles) south-east of the capital Islamabad, when the fire broke out.
Compressed natural gas is used in millions of vehicles in Pakistan as a cheaper alternative to diesel and petrol.
Numerous previous vehicle explosions have been blamed on substandard cylinders used to contain the fuel.
BBC
