The first incident involved a bus carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims returning from Iraq through Iran, which fell into a ravine on the Makran coastal highway in southwest Pakistan.
The accident, attributed to brake failure, killed at least 12 people and injured 32 others. Local police chief Qazi Sabir reported that the driver lost control of the vehicle while traveling through Lasbela district in Baluchistan province.
Authorities in Baluchistan are arranging for the bodies of the deceased pilgrims to be transported to Punjab province for burial. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has expressed her condolences.
In a separate incident hours later, a bus plunged into a ravine in Kahuta district, eastern Punjab, killing 23 people, including two women and a child, and injuring at least seven others.
The bus was en route to the Pakistan-administered region of Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, when it plunged off the Panna bridge in Kahuta district.
Senior government official Sardar Waheed reported that heavy machinery was required to lift the wreckage and ensure no one was trapped.
In response, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed their condolences and sorrow over the accidents, urging authorities to provide top medical care for the injured.
These incidents follow a recent bus crash in Iran that killed 28 Pakistani pilgrims traveling to Iraq.
A Pakistani military plane repatriated their bodies on Saturday for burial in Sindh province.
Shiite pilgrims travel in large numbers to Karbala, Iraq, for Arbaeen, marking the death of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, a figure of resistance in early Islamic history.
These incidents follow a recent bus crash in Iran that killed 28 Pakistani pilgrims traveling to Iraq.