In two separate mishaps that occurred on Sunday, at least 44 people were killed in Pakistan in two separate bus accidents. The first account was reported at the outskirts of Azad Pattan, a town in Punjab province that falls on the border with the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmír. Specifically, a bus overturned in this case and killed 22 people when the vehicle fell off the road into a ravine. Farooq Ahmed, the official from Rescue 1122 emergency services in Punjab, told about the incident that16 people of the group, which included fifteen men, six women, and one child, lost their lives.
In another incident on the Makran Coastal Highway in Balochistan, a total of 12 people died as their bus toppled over a ravine. This bus was moving with passengers who could not be allowed to cross the Iran border. The accident happened at a sharp turn area where motorists may get to make many turns back and forth. As per the statement of the police official Aslam Bangulzai, a Keshav express bus driver was driving at high speed, which made the bus fall into a deep ravine. It occurred some 100 Km away from Uthal town and 500 Km from the Iranian border town of Pishin.
Another witness in this regard was Hamood Ur Rehman, a senior government official in Gwadar, who also stated that the bus was carrying passengers to the ongoing Arbaeen procession of Shiite pilgrims. Nevertheless, separated by various problems with documents, which were unsuitable for pilgrims to cross the borders, the pilgrims failed to continue the voyage. They got stopped right at the Iranian border.
High-fatality road accidents become quite common in Pakistan due to negligence of precautionary measures, lack of proper training of the drivers, and undergoing gradual decay of transportation facilities. Only a day before, 28 Pakistani pilgrims killed in a bus accident in Iran were repatriated back to Pakistan. A tragic incident occurred in Iran whereby a bus that was conveying 51 Pakistani pilgrims was headed to perform Arbaeen in Iraq. The accident occurred in the Yazd province, and the bus rolled over and burst into flames, as said by Iranian state television.
Check here for the latest updates in Hindi!