Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has assured Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that every effort will be made to investigate the Dasu bus incident, which resulted in the deaths of 12 people, including nine Chinese nationals.

PM Khan expressed his condolences to Li Keqiang over the phone on Friday for the deaths of Chinese nationals in the tragic incident in Upper Kohistan.

“All efforts will be made to investigate the incident,” the PM said, adding that the government’s top priority is the security of Chinese citizens in Pakistan.

He further said that enemy forces will not be allowed to harm the friendship between the two countries.

The Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry on Thursday said that “terrorism cannot be ruled out” in the Dasu accident.

“Initial investigations into Dassu incident have now confirmed traces of explosives, terrorism cannot be ruled out,PM is personally supervising all developments, in this regard Govt is in close coordination with Chinese embassy we are committed to fight menace of terrorism together,” said the minister.

Foreign Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said earlier in the day that a “comprehensive” investigation into the incident has been launched, adding that it is “also being investigated from the angle of terrorism.”

He also stated that he maintains close contact with Chinese officials.

A bus carrying Chinese workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa plunged into a ravine on Wednesday “after a mechanical failure resulting in gas leakage that caused a blast,” according to a Foreign Office statement.

Chinese workers and their Pakistani colleagues “were proceeding to their work place for an ongoing project,” according to the statement.