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Swarajya Staff
Jul 14, 2021, 12:45 PM | Updated 03:42 PM IST
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Nine Chinese nationals and two Pakistani soldiers were among the thirteen people killed in an explosion in a bus in a remote region of northern Pakistan on Wednesday (14 July).
Several others sustained injuries in the blast that targetted the bus carrying more than 30 Chinese engineers to the site of the Dasu dam in Upper Kohistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The Dasu hydroelectric project is part of the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a project under Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. The CPEC is aimed at connecting western China to the Gwadar sea port in southern Pakistan.
"The bus plunged into a deep ravine after the blast and caused heavy losses. One Chinese engineer and one soldier are missing. The rescue operation is launched and the entire government machinery has been mobilised to rescue the injured by air ambulance," a senior police official of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was quoted by news agency Reuters as saying.
The official further said that said two Pakistani soldiers and two locals were also among the dead.