The pilgrims were on their way to Iraq to take part in the Arbaeen festival, marking the 40th day of mourning for Imam Husayn. Iranian state media reported Monday that a bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims collided with a truck in southern Iran, killing at least three people and injuring 48.
The pilgrims were travelling through Iran to Iraq to take part in the Arbaeen festival, marking the 40th day of mourning for Imam Husayn, the grandson of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said late Sunday that the bus collided with the truck on the main road between the town of Neiris in Fars province and Sirjan in Kerman province, resulting in “48 injuries and three deaths.” She did not say how many people were on the bus.
Fars city traffic police officer Colonel Abdul Hashem Dehgani said the accident was caused by a “technical defect” in the brakes and the driver’s “lack of vehicle control,” IRNA reported.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Mehr News Urdu newspaper quoted Neiris province governor Yaqub Khosrawani as saying that four Pakistani pilgrims were killed and 30 others injured in the incident.
This was the second road accident involving Pakistani pilgrims within the past week, after a crash in the Iranian city of Yazd on the way to Iraq’s Arbaeen festival left 28 people dead.
The bodies of the 28 pilgrims were transported to Pakistan on a special flight on Friday night.
Iran has a poor road safety record, with accident deaths exceeding 20,000 as of March 2024. This is according to figures from the Iranian judicial system’s forensic medicine organisation, cited by local media.
According to official statistics, a total of 22 million pilgrims attended the Arbaeen festival last year.
IRNA announced that as of August 19 this year, around 25,000 Pakistani pilgrims had entered Iran, heading for the Iraqi pilgrimage city of Karbala, where Imam Hussain and his brother Abbas are buried.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed “regret over the deaths of Pakistani pilgrims in a bus accident in Iran” in a post on X.
“The Prime Minister has instructed the Pakistani Embassy to cooperate fully with the families of the deceased and provide the best possible medical assistance to the injured,” the post read.