Karachi:
At least 17 religious pilgrims were killed and 41 injured in a car crash on their way to a holy shrine in southwestern Pakistan, officials said Thursday.
Munir Ahmed, deputy commissioner of Balochistan’s central district, told AFP the accident happened around 10pm (1700 GMT) on Wednesday and confirmed the death toll.
“The truck was speeding and lost control of the driver while making a turn,” he said, and as they approached the shrine, the truck fell into a ravine in a mountain town.
He added that the travelers were on their way to a place of prayer during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which is currently underway.
“The driver jumped out of the truck and is still safe,” he said.
Shaukat Jalbani, deputy director of Hub Main Hospital, also confirmed the death toll of 17 people and said most of the injured had been sent to nearby Karachi for treatment.
Earlier on Thursday, an AFP photographer watched in the southern city as workers unloaded the victims’ bodies, wrapped in shrouds, to a morgue.
Pakistan has a high road fatality rate, lax safety measures, poor driver training and often dilapidated transport infrastructure.
In January 2023, a passenger bus carrying a container of flammable oil crashed into a valley in Balochistan and caught fire, killing 41 people.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
