17 pilgrims killed as bus falls in ravine in Pakistan's Balochistan province

Carrying the pilgrims to a shrine, the truck was speeding and fell into a deep roadside ditch in Hub City in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, police said.

Karachi: At least 17 people were killed and 38 others injured when a bus carrying pilgrims fell into a deep ravine near a border town of Pakistan's Sindh and Balochistan provinces, police said on Thursday.

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.

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.

Poor roads, lack of safety awareness and blatant disregard for traffic rules often cause fatal accidents in Pakistan.