Shiite pilgrims march on their way to Karbala for Arbaeen in Babil, Iraq. Representational image.
| Photo Credit: AP
A bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims overturned in Iran, killing 28 passengers and injuring another 23 people, the Iranian Students News Agency reported on Wednesday (August 21, 2024).
The crash happened Tuesday (August 20) night in the central Iranian province of Yazd, said Mohammad Ali Malekzadeh, a local emergency official, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Another 23 people suffered injuries in the crash, 14 of them serious, he added.
There had been 51 people on board at the time of the crash.
The pilgrims had been on their way to Iraq to commemorate Arbaeen, which marks the 40th day following the death of a Shiite saint in the 7th century. Pilgrims gather in Karbala, Iraq, in what’s regarded as the largest annual public gathering in the world.
Authorities offered no immediate cause for the crash. However, Iran has one of the world’s worst traffic safety records with some 17,000 deaths annually. The grave toll is blamed on wide disregard for traffic laws, unsafe vehicles and inadequate emergency services in its vast rural areas.
In a separate incident, a bus crash early Wednesday (August 21, 2024) in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province killed six people and injured 18, authorities said.
