Islamabad: At least 70 people were killed and many others injured in three different accidents involving Pakistani residents. In the first accident, at least 28 Pakistani Shia pilgrims were killed and 23 injured after their bus, on its way to Iraq, overturned in Iran, Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran, Muddasir Tipu, said. They were on their way to Karbala to take part in the ‘Arbaeen’ pilgrimage. The accident was caused by a defect in the vehicle’s braking system.
"Unfortunately, 11 women and 17 men lost their lives in this accident. Seven of the injured people are in critical condition and six injured people have now left the hospital," the crisis management director general of Yazd province told state TV.
Millions of Shi'ite Muslims are currently partaking in the Arbaeen pilgrimage in Iraq's Karbala Governorate.
In the other accidents, 42 people were killed and dozens injured in Pakistan’s northeastern Rawalpindi division and volatile southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday. Thirteen people were killed and 32 others were injured in an accident in the Makran coastal highway when the brakes of a bus carrying Shia pilgrims returning from Iraq through Iran failed while passing through Lasbela district in Balochistan. Four people remained trapped inside the coach, and a crane was ordered to extricate them, local police authorities said, adding the deceased hailed from Lahore and Gujranwala cities in Pakistan Punjab.
In the other accident, 25 people were killed when a passenger bus traveling from Haveli Kahuta in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to Rawalpindi fell into a ravine, police and officials said. The interior ministry, however, said 29 had died in that crash. Sardar Waheed, a senior govt official, said heavy machinery was needed to lift the wreckage and ensure no one was trapped underneath.
