Pilgrims among dozens killed in two separate bus accidents in Pakistan

Pakistan’s leaders expressed sorrow over the road accidents, frequent occurrences in the country largely due to poor infrastructure.

At least 34 people have been killed in two separate bus accidents in northeast and southwest Pakistan, according to local authorities.

Twelve people died on the Makran Coastal Highway in the southwest province of Balochistan, the Ministry of Interior said on Sunday, while a rescue official said 22 people were killed when a bus plunged into a deep ravine near Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The first accident occurred overnight, when a bus carrying Shia pilgrims returning from Iran for a religious commemoration veered off the road.

Thirteen people were also injured and were reported to be in critical condition, the provincial government said.

Four people remained trapped inside the coach, and a crane was ordered to evacuate them, local police authorities said, according to Pakistani news outlet Dawn.

The second accident took place in the Kahuta district in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province.

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

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

The Interior Ministry, however, said 29 had died in that crash.

“The accident was caused due to the coaster’s failed brakes,” rescue official Usman Gujjar told Dawn.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi expressed his “heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the families of the deceased in both accidents”.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also issued separate statements expressing