Pakistan: 36 including pilgrims killed in separate bus accidents

Islamabad: As many as 36 people were killed in two separate bus accidents in Pakistan, Al Jazeera reported, citing local authorities.

12 people were killed on the Makran Coastal Highway in the southwest province of Balochistan, Pakistan's Interior Ministry said on Sunday, while a rescue official said 24 people were killed when a bus plunged into a deep ravine near Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).

The first accident occurred overnight, when a bus carrying Shia pilgrims returning from Iran for religious commemoration veered off the road.

32 people were also injured and reported to be in critical condition, the provincial government said.

Four people remained trapped inside the coach, and a crane was ordered to evacuate them, local police authorities said, according to Pakistani news outlet Dawn.

The second accident took place in the Kahuta district in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province. It was heading towards PoJK.

Initially, local police said that there were seven injured, but later doctors and government officials said that everyone onboard the bus died in the crash. Raja Moazzam, a rescue official, said most of the bodies had been identified.

"The accident was caused due to the coaster's failed brakes," rescue official Usman Gujjar told Dawn.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief on the incidents in separate statements.

Pak Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also expressed his "heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the families of the deceased in both accidents."

Notably, road accidents frequently occur in Pakistan due to inadequate infrastructure, poorly maintained vehicles, and reckless driving.

Around 9,000 incidents are reported every year, leading to over 5,000 deaths, according to Al Jazeera.

Earlier this week, a bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims flipped over in central Iran, killing 28 passengers and injuring another 23 people.

The passengers were Pakistani pilgrims heading to Iraq for the Arbaeen commemoration, one of the biggest events of the year for Shia Muslims globally.

The overturned bus caught fire in front of a checkpoint in the Yazd province on Tuesday night, Iranian state TV reported.

The victims' bodies were brought home on a Pakistani military plane on Saturday and buried in the southern province of Sindh.

Thousands of Shia Muslims travel to Iraq's holy city of Karbala to commemorate the occasion, marking the end of the annual 40-day mourning period after the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussein, a central figure in the sect of Islam, Al Jazeera reported.