Tehran: In a tragic incident, at least 35 Pakistani pilgrims have died and 18 have been injured after a bus overturned at a checkpost in Iran's Yazd, DawnNews TV reported. The crash happened Tuesday night in the central Iranian province of Yazd, said Mohammad Ali Malekzadeh, a local emergency official, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. 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.
"Unfortunately, 11 women and 17 men lost their lives in this accident. Seven of the injured people are in critical condition and six injured people have now left the hospital," the crisis management director general of Yazd province told state TV. Pakistan's consular services in Iran have been invited to Yazd province to follow up on the accident, the official added.
Millions of Shi'ite Muslims are currently partaking in the Arbaeen pilgrimage in Iraq's Karbala Governorate. The event marks the 40th mourning following the martyrdom of Imam Hussein bin Ali, a central figure in Shi'ite Islam and the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.
Death toll 28 or 35?
Iranian media has reported the death toll as 28 but in Pakistan, media reports quoted a local Shiite leader, Qamar Abbas, saying as many as 35 people had died in the crash. He described those on the bus as coming from the city of Larkana in Pakistan's southern Sindh province. Pakistan's government offered no immediate comment.
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. The pilgrims had been on their way to Iraq to commemorate Arbaeen.
What was the destination of the ill-fated bus?
Arbaeen — Arabic for the number 40 — marks the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussein, at the hands of the Muslim Umayyad forces in the Battle of Karbala, during the tumultuous first century of Islam's history. Hussein was seen by his followers as the rightful heir of the prophet's legacy. When he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate, he was killed in the battle, cementing the schism between Sunni and Shiite Islam. Pilgrims gather in Karbala, Iraq, in what's regarded as the largest annual public gathering in the world.
The event draws tens of millions of people each year. A separate bus crash early Wednesday in Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province killed six people and injured 18, authorities said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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