At least 13 people were killed in a collision between a passenger bus and a truck in the Punjab province of Pakistan, the officials said.

The bus had a head-on collision with a sugarcane-laden truck coming from the opposite direction in Rahim Yar Khan district, some 400kms from Lahore on Saturday evening, according to rescue officials.

There was a total of 18 passengers aboard the bus.

"After the accident, the rescue teams joined the locals to shift the injured to a hospital where 13 of them were pronounced dead while the condition of the remaining five injured is stated to be critical," it said, adding the dead included women as well.

The officials further said the rainwater was accumulated on the road where the accident took place.

"The bus got buried under the sugarcane sacks after the accident and rescue teams took considerable time to move the injured to the hospital," it said.

The driver of the truck reportedly managed to escape from the scene.

Road accidents have become all too frequent in Pakistan, pointing to the fact that shoddy infrastructure, dilapidated vehicles and lack of compliance with traffic rules add to the overall situation.

In 2020, WHO published data which showed that road accident deaths in Pakistan amounted to 1.93% of the total death.

PTI