Pakistan: 17 Killed, Several Injured As Truck Carrying Pilgrims Falls Into Ravine In Balochistan

The travellers were en route to a prayer site during the Muslim holiday of Eidul Fitr, which is currently underway.

An AI Image depicting a passenger vehicle that has met an accident.

Source : ABP LIVE AI

At least 17 people have been killed while 41 others have sustained injuries after a truck fell into a ravine in Balochistan. The accident took place when the truck filled with religious pilgrims was travelling to a shrine in southwestern Pakistan. “The truck was overspeeding and it went out of the driver’s control while negotiating a turn” and fell into a ravine in a mountainous town as they approached the shrine, district deputy commissioner Munir Ahmed told.

The travellers were en route to a prayer site during the Muslim holiday of Eidul Fitr, which is currently underway, he added. “The driver jumped out of the truck and remains safe,” he said. Shaukat Jalbani, the deputy medical superintendent of Hub’s main hospital, also confirmed 17 people had been killed and said most of the injured had been sent to nearby Karachi for treatment.

According to news agency PTI, the pilgrims were going to pay homage at the remote Muslim Sufi shrine Shah Noorani in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan when their bus fell into the ravine in the Hub town on Wednesday. The place where the accident took place is almost 100 kilometres from Karachi.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi expressed condolences at the incident and said the driver apparently lost control at a bend and the bus fell into the ravine. All the passengers belonged to Thatta town in the Sindh province.

“The vehicle left Thatta around 2 in the afternoon on Eid day and met with the accident around 8 pm on Eid day (Wednesday),” Naqvi said, as quoted by PTI.

A local police official in Hub said the dead and injured were taken to the Civil Hospital in Karachi, where their bodies were identified, some of them as belonging to the same families, as reported by PTI.  Poor roads, lack of safety awareness and blatant disregard for traffic rules often cause fatal accidents in Pakistan.

(With Inputs From Sayed)