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Louise Thomas
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At least 37 people were killed and dozens injured in Pakistan after two separate bus accidents occurred just hours apart on Sunday.
The first tragedy struck in the Lasbela district of Balochistan province, where a bus carrying Shia Muslim pilgrims returning from Iraq plunged into a ravine.
The accident occurred on the Makran coastal highway. The driver apparently lost control of the bus due to brake failure.
"The bus fell from a highway into a ravine, killing at least 12 people and injuring 32 others,” local police chief Qazi Sabir said.
The passengers had gone to Iraq for a religious pilgrimage.
Just a few hours later, a deadly accident occurred in the Kahuta district of Punjab province. A bus travelling from Kahuta to Rawalpindi veered off the Azad Pattan Road and fell into a ravine. The cause of the crash, as with the first, was attributed to brake failure.
Reports about the number of casualties varied. While some officials said 29 people had died, rescue workers reported 25 fatalities and one critically injured passenger.
Rescue official Usman Gujjar provided a breakdown, noting that the dead included 20 men, four women and one child.
Sunday’s crashes come just days after a fatal bus accident in neighbouring Iran left 28 Pakistani pilgrims dead. The bus reportedly overturned and caught fire due to a faulty braking system.
The bodies of those victims were recently returned to Pakistan and buried in the southern Sindh province.
Hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims travel to Iraq’s Karbala city to commemorate the death anniversary of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein, a symbol of resistance to tyrannical rule during the tumultuous first century of Islam’s history.
The tragic accidents have prompted an outpouring of grief and sympathy in Pakistan.
"I pray for the high ranks of the departed souls and patience for their families," prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said while directing authorities to provide immediate medical aid to the injured.
His interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, said: "Heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the families of the deceased in both accidents."
Punjab chief minister Maryam Nawaz wrote on social media: "May Allah exalt the ranks of those who died in this tragedy and grant patience to their loved ones."
She underlined the need for improved road safety measures to prevent such accidents in the future.
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