All out efforts to be made in Dasu incident probe, PM Imran Khan assures Chinese counterpart

• Prime Minister Imran Khan calls Chinese counterpart after Dasu incident.
• Expresses sorrow over tragic incident in which nine Chinese nationals were killed.
• Pakistan says terrorism can not be ruled out from the incident.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has assured Chinese Premier Li Keqiang of making every effort into the Dasu bus incident, in which 12 people were killed, including nine Chinese nationals.

In his conversation with Li Keqiang over the phone on Friday, PM Khan offered his condolences over the death of the Chinese nationals in the tragic incident in Upper Kohistan.

"All efforts will be made to investigate the incident," the PM said and added that the security of Chinese citizens in Pakistan is the government's top priority.

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

Read more:12 dead, multiple injured as bus carrying Chinese workers meets accident in Upper Kohistan

‘Terrorism cannot be ruled out’

On Thursday, Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said that "terrorism cannot be ruled out" in the Dasu accident.

"Initial investigations into Dasu incident have now confirmed traces of explosives," the minister had said.

He had said that PM Imran Khan is "personally supervising all developments in this regard" and that the government is closely coordinating with the Chinese embassy.

"We are committed to fight the menace of terrorism together," he had said.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri had said that a "comprehensive" probe has been launched into the incident, adding that it is "also being investigated from the angle of terrorism".

He had added that close contact is being maintained with Chinese officials.

Bus plunges into ravine

On Wednesday, a bus carrying Chinese workers in Khyber Pakhunkhwa's plunged into a ravine "after a mechanical failure resulting in leakage of gas that caused a blast", a statement from the Foreign Office had said.

According to the statement, Chinese workers and accompanying Pakistani staff "were proceeding to their work place for an ongoing project".