KARACHI – At least 17 religious pilgrims were killed and 41 injured in a crash as they travelled to a shrine in southwestern Pakistan, officials said yesterday. The crash happened around 10 pm (1700 GMT) on Wednesday night in Hub district of Balochistan province, district deputy commissioner Munir Ahmed told AFP, confirming the toll of dead and injured.
“The truck was speeding, and it went out of the driver’s control while negotiating a turn” and fell into a ravine as they approached the shrine, 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 city for treatment.
Road accidents with high fatalities are common in Pakistan where safety measures are lax, driver training is poor and, transport infrastructure often decrepit. In January 2023, 41 people were killed when their passenger bus, which was also loaded with containers of flammable oil, plunged into a ravine in Balochistan province and burst into flames.
– Nampa/AFP