28 killed as bus carrying Pakistan pilgrims crashes in Iran

Kathmandu: At least 28 Pakistani pilgrims, traveling to Iraq for a Shiite Muslim ritual, have died as their bus crashed in central Iran.

23 people have been injured in the accident. ‘A bus carrying 51 Pakistani pilgrims overturned and caught fire in front of Dehshir-Taft checkpoint in the central province of Yazd on Tuesday night,’ a state television reported, ’28 people have been killed and 23 injured so far with the possibility of the death toll increasing.’

Yazd province crisis management chief Ali Malek-zadeh told the broadcaster that some of the injured were in critical condition. ‘Of the 23 injured, six have already been discharged from hospital, while the condition of seven others is critical,’ Malek-zadeh said, ‘The dead consisted of 11 women and 17 men.’

Last year, some 22 million pilgrims attended the commemoration in the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala, where Hussein and his brother Abbas are buried, according to official figures.

RSS/AFP