Bus accident involving Pakistani Shiite pilgrims in Iran: At least 28 dead

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At least 28 people were killed when a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims from Pakistan to Iraq crashed in central Iran, an official said on Wednesday.

The crash occurred on Tuesday night in the central Iranian province of Yazd, said Mohammad Ali Malekzadeh, a local emergency official.

Another 23 people were injured in the accident, 14 of them seriously, he added.

At the time of the crash there were 51 people on board, all from Pakistan.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi expressed his condolences for the fatalities. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of precious lives in the bus accident in Iran,” he said.

Iranian state television later broadcast images of the bus overturned on the highway, its roof smashed and its doors all open.

Rescue workers carefully made their way across the street, avoiding the sight of broken glass and debris lying around.

The pilgrims were on their way to Iraq to celebrate the festival of Arba'in (Arabic for the number 40), which commemorates the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in the turbulent first century of Islamic history.

In Karbala, Iraq, pilgrims gather for the event, which is considered the largest annual public gathering in the world.

The event attracts tens of millions of people every year. According to Iranian police, three million pilgrims have already left the country's borders for Karbala.

The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.

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