42 killed in two separate bus accidents in Pakistan
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ISLAMABAD: Two separate bus accidents left at least 42 people dead and dozens injured in पाकिस्तान’s northeastern Rawalpindi division and volatile southwestern Baluchistan province on Sunday.
The first accident happened on the Makran coastal highway when the brakes of a bus carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims returning from Iraq through Iran failed while passing through Lasbela district in Baluchistan, killing 13 people and injuring 32 others.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. Maryam Nawaz, Punjab’s chief minister, expressed her condolences over the accident.
In the second accident, at least 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 government official, said heavy machinery was needed to lift the wreckage and ensure no one was trapped underneath.
Authorities in Baluchistan said arrangements were being made to send the bodies of the dead pilgrims to Punjab province for burial.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in separate statements offered their condolences. They asked authorities to ensure the injured get the best medical treatment.
Millions of Shiite Muslims are currently taking part in the Arbaeen pilgrimage, the 40-day mourning rituals at the shrine of Imam Hussain, grandson of Prophet Muhammad, in Iraq’s holy city of Karbala. Every year thousands of Pakistani Shias travel to Iraq to participate in the Arbaeen. Many pilgrims opt to walk 80 km (50 miles) to Karbala from the nearby city of Najaf, where Imam Ali, Hussain’s father and Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law, is buried.
Earlier this week at least 28 Pakistani Shiite pilgrims were killed when in a bus accident in Iran while they were er Norte to Iraq. Their bodies were brought home on a Pakistani military plane on Saturday and buried in the southern province of Sindh.
The first accident happened on the Makran coastal highway when the brakes of a bus carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims returning from Iraq through Iran failed while passing through Lasbela district in Baluchistan, killing 13 people and injuring 32 others.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. Maryam Nawaz, Punjab’s chief minister, expressed her condolences over the accident.
In the second accident, at least 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 government official, said heavy machinery was needed to lift the wreckage and ensure no one was trapped underneath.
Authorities in Baluchistan said arrangements were being made to send the bodies of the dead pilgrims to Punjab province for burial.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in separate statements offered their condolences. They asked authorities to ensure the injured get the best medical treatment.
Millions of Shiite Muslims are currently taking part in the Arbaeen pilgrimage, the 40-day mourning rituals at the shrine of Imam Hussain, grandson of Prophet Muhammad, in Iraq’s holy city of Karbala. Every year thousands of Pakistani Shias travel to Iraq to participate in the Arbaeen. Many pilgrims opt to walk 80 km (50 miles) to Karbala from the nearby city of Najaf, where Imam Ali, Hussain’s father and Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law, is buried.
Earlier this week at least 28 Pakistani Shiite pilgrims were killed when in a bus accident in Iran while they were er Norte to Iraq. Their bodies were brought home on a Pakistani military plane on Saturday and buried in the southern province of Sindh.
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