(MENAFN- Arab News) KARACHI: A passenger bus crashed into an oil tanker in southern Pakistan early Sunday killing 57 people with remains charred beyond recognition officials said.

Dr. Seemi Jamali who heads the emergency section at Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center in Karachi where the remains were brought said they had received 57 bodies. Four people were also injured she said.

She said the hospital would have to do DNA tests to identify the victims that include both women and children.

Minister of Transportation for Sindh Province Mir Mumtaz Hussain Jakhrani said the crash happened when the passenger bus hit an oil tanker early Sunday about 50 km outside of Karachi.

A relative of one of the victims told The Associated Press that his sister and two uncles and all their families were on board the bus.

'A total nine members of my family were on board and nobody survived' said Abdul Hafeez.

The bus was completely burned on the inside from the fire.

Such horrific traffic accidents are not uncommon in Pakistan due to reckless untrained drivers and poor roads.

Authorities fear the death toll could rise with most of the bodies burned beyond recognition. Initial reports said the oil tanker was travelling in the wrong direction along the dilapidated stretch of road police said.

'We have received more than 57 dead bodies but the death toll may rise as most of them are completely burned and stuck to each other' Doctor Semi Jamali at Karachi's Jinnah hospital told AFP.

Jamali said the bodies of at least six children were stuck to women who may have been their mothers adding it was impossible to separate the remains.

'They are beyond recognition they can only be identified by DNA test' she said. The overloaded bus carrying more than 60 passengers was en route to the town of Shikarpur from the southern port city of Karachi when the collision occurred.

Television channels showed live footage from the fiery crash site where rescue workers were busily evacuating dead bodies and any injured.

Earlier senior police official Rao Muhammad Anwaar said the bus 'hit the oil tanker which according to initial reports was coming in the wrong direction' and caught fire.

Another senior police official Aamir Shiekh said an investigation has been launched but it appeared the poor condition of the single track road also contributed to the cause of the accident.

'We are trying to ascertain if the driver of the oil tanker was solely at fault or whether the bus driver also showed negligence' Anwaar said.

A few passengers escaped unhurt after they jumped out of the bus windows police official Muhammad Jan said. It was the second major fatal crash in Sindh province in less than three months.

Pakistan has an appalling record of fatal traffic accidents due to poor roads badly-maintained vehicles and reckless driving.