At least 35 Pakistanis died in Iran late on Tuesday after a bus carrying pilgrims overturned in Iran's Yazd. Pakistani news website Geo TV quoted a Larkana peace committee member, Maulana Qamar Abbas Naqvi, that 30 people died on the spot, while the rest passed away at the hospital.
At least 15 people were injured in the accident. According to another Pakistani news website Dawn, 53 people were on the bus. Most of them were from the Sindh province cities of Larkana, Ghotki, Khairpur, and Kashmore. According to a report by Iranian news agency IRNA, the Shiite pilgrims were headed to the holy city of Qom in Iran to commemorate Arbaeen, the martyrdom of Husayn Ibn Ali, Prophet Muhammad's grandson.
Nearly two million Shiite Muslims are participating in the annual pilgrimage from Najaf to Karbala in Iraq — a distance of about 80 km.
Geo TV quoted a Qom seminary student hailing from Larkan, Maulana Shah Murad Sharifi, as saying that right before the accident, he heard people saying that the brakes of the bus had stopped working. According to Reuters, a A BBC report stated that there were at least 11 women among the dead.
People who suffered minor injuries were being treated at a government hospital. Seven of the injured are in critical condition.