Pilgrims among dozens killed in two separate bus crashes in Pakistan | Transport News

Pakistan's leadership expressed regret over the road accidents that are common in the country and are largely due to poor infrastructure.

According to local authorities, at least 34 people were killed in two bus accidents in northeast and southwest Pakistan.

Twelve people died on the Makran coastal highway in southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday, the home ministry said. A rescue official said 22 people were killed when a bus plunged into a deep ravine near Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The first accident occurred during the night when a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims returning from Iran for a religious memorial service went off the road.

Thirteen people were also injured and were reportedly in critical condition, the provincial government said.

According to Pakistani news channel Dawn, four people were still trapped on the bus and a crane had been called in to evacuate them, local police authorities said.

The second accident occurred in Kahuta district in the eastern Pakistani province of Punjab.

Rescue coordinator Rawalpindi Muhammad Usman told Reuters that the bus was carrying 25 passengers, including six women and a child. Among these passengers, 22 died and one was seriously injured.

All bodies from the crash have been recovered from the ravine, he said.

However, the Interior Ministry said 29 people died in the crash.

“The accident was caused by brake failure of the roller coaster,” rescue official Usman Gujjar told Dawn.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi expressed his “deepest condolences and sympathy” to the families of those killed in both accidents.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed their regret in separate statements.

Thousands of deaths per year

Earlier this week, a bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims overturned in central Iran. 28 passengers were killed and 23 others were injured.

The passengers were Pakistani pilgrims on their way to Iraq for the Arba'in festival, one of the biggest events of the year for Shiite Muslims worldwide.

Thousands of Shiites travel to the holy city of Karbala in Iraq to mark the occasion and the end of the annual 40-day mourning period following the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, a central figure in the Islamic sect.

The overturned bus caught fire in front of a checkpoint in Yazd province on Tuesday evening, Iranian state television reported.

The bodies of these victims were brought home on Saturday by a Pakistani military aircraft and buried in the southern province of Sindh.

Due to inadequate infrastructure, poorly maintained vehicles and reckless driving, road accidents are common in Pakistan.

An average of 9,000 incidents are reported each year, resulting in more than 5,000 deaths.