40 killed in two bus accidents in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: At least 40 people, including 11 Shia Muslim pilgrims, were killed and several others injured in two separate bus accidents in Pakistan on Sunday, officials said.

The first accident occurred when a bus carrying around 70 pilgrims returning from Iraq through Iran overturned on the Makran coastal highway and fell into a ditch, police said.

At least 11 people were killed and 35 others injured in the accident in Balochistan province, over 100 km from Karachi.

The Makran Coastal Highway is a 653-km national highway that extends along Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast from Karachi in Sindh province to Gwadar in Balochistan province.

Most of the passengers were from Lahore or Gujranwala, according to police sources.

The driver apparently lost control of the bus, which first overturned and then fell into the ravine, police said.