At least 37 people, including 11 pilgrims, were killed and several others injured in two separate bus accidents in Pakistan on Sunday.
The first accident occurred when a bus carrying 70 people, carrying Shia pilgrims from Iran to Punjab province, veered off the Makran coastal highway in Balochistan province.
The Makran Coastal Highway is a 653-km-long national highway that stretches along the Arabian Sea coast of Pakistan from Karachi in Sindh province to Gwadar in Balochistan province.
According to police sources, most of the passengers were from Lahore or Gujranwala. About 35 people were injured in the accident.
According to District Commissioner (DC) Lasbela Humaira Baloch, rescue operations are underway.
In another accident, 26 people were killed when a bus carrying 35 people fell into a ditch in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, said Qamar Nadeem of the Edhi Foundation, which runs the largest private ambulance service.
“So far, 26 people have been confirmed dead and three are injured,” he told PTI.
According to sources, the cause of this accident in the hilly area is not yet known.
Locals were removing bodies from the bus while police and rescue teams rushed to the spot.
Sadnoti Deputy Commissioner Umar Farooq said the deceased included children, women and men and all of them were from Sadnoti district.
These accidents come just days after another bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims crashed in Iran, killing 35 people and injuring 15.