TEHRAN: At least three people were killed and 48 others wounded when a bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims cra­shed into a truck in southern Iran, state media reported on Monday.

In recent days, devotees have been heading to Iraq for a major ritual, with Pakistanis often travelling through Iran to attend the Arbaeen commemoration.

Iran’s official news age­n­­cy IRNA said a bus collided with a truck late Sunday on the main road between Neyriz city in Fars province and Sirjan in Kerman province, leaving “48 wounded and three dead”.

It did not specify how many people were on board the bus.

Colonel Abdol Hashem Dehghani, a Fars traffic police official quoted by IRNA, said the accident was caused by “a technical failure” in the brakes and the driver’s “inability to control the vehicle”.

This was the second road accident in less than a week involving Pakistani pilgrims, after a crash in central Iran killed 28 people on the way to Iraq for Arbaeen.

Arbaeen, which marks the 40th day of mourning for Imam Hussein, last year drew a total of 22 million pilgrims, according to official figures.

Iran has a poor road saf­ety record with over 20,000 deaths in accidents in the year up to March 2024, according figures from the Iranian judiciary’s Legal Medicine Org­anisation cited by local media.

IRNA said that by Aug­ust 19 this year, some 25,000 Pakistani pilgrims had entered Iran to reach the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala, where Imam Hussein’s mausoleum is located.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2024