At least three people were killed and 48 others wounded when a bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims crashed into a truck in southern Iran, according to state media on Monday.
The pilgrims were en route to Iraq for the Arbaeen commemoration, which marks the 40th day of mourning for Imam Husain, the grandson of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported that the collision occurred late Sunday on the main road between Neyriz in Fars province and Sirjan in Kerman province. The report did not specify the total number of passengers on the bus.
Colonel Abdol Hashem Dehghani from Fars traffic police stated that the accident was due to “a technical failure” in the brakes and the driver’s “inability to control the vehicle.”
However, Mehr News Urdu quoted Neyriz Governor Yaqub Khosrawani, who said that four Pakistani pilgrims had died and 30 others were injured.
This incident follows another road accident involving Pakistani pilgrims in Yazd city earlier in the week, where 28 people were killed on their way to Iraq for Arbaeen. The bodies of the deceased were returned to Pakistan on a special flight on Friday night.
Iran’s road safety record is notably poor, with over 20,000 deaths reported in accidents in the year up to March 2024, according to figures from the Iranian judiciary’s Legal Medicine Organisation.
Last year, Arbaeen attracted 22 million pilgrims. By August 19 of this year, around 25,000 Pakistani pilgrims had entered Iran heading to the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala, where Imam Husain and his brother Abbas are buried.
