Bus accident with Shiite pilgrims from Pakistan to Iraq in Iran: At least 28 people die

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – A bus carrying Shiite pilgrims from Pakistan to Iraq crashed in the center IranAt least 28 people were killed, an official said on Wednesday.

The crash occurred on Tuesday evening in the central Iranian province of Yazd, said Mohammad Ali Malekzadeh, a local emergency official, according to the state news agency IRNA.

Another 23 people were injured in the accident, 14 of them seriously, he added. He said all the bus passengers were from Pakistan.

At the time of the crash outside the city of Taft, about 500 kilometers southeast of the Iranian capital Tehran, there were 51 people on board.

Iranian state television later blamed the bus's brake failure and the driver's lack of attention for the accident.

In Pakistan, media reports quoted local Shiite leader Qamar Abbas as saying that 35 people died in the accident. He described the bus's occupants as being from the city of Larkana in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh. The Pakistani government did not immediately comment.

Iran has one of the worst road safety records in the world with about 17,000 fatalities per year. The high number of fatalities is attributed to disregard for traffic rules, unsafe vehicles and inadequate emergency services in the vast rural areas.

The pilgrims were on their way to Iraq celebrates Arba'in festival.

Arbaeen – the Arabic word for the number 40 – marks the death of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the hands of Muslim Umayyad forces at the Battle of Karbala in the turbulent first century of Islamic history. Hussein was considered the Prophet's rightful heir by his followers. When he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad Caliphate, he was killed in battle, sealing the split between Sunni and Shia Islam.

Pilgrims gather in Karbala, Iraq, for the world's largest annual public gathering. Each year, the event attracts tens of millions of people.

Another bus crash early Wednesday in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan left six people dead and 18 injured, authorities said.

___

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.