‘Overspeeding’ truck plunges into ravine killing 17 pilgrims in Pakistan
At least 17 pilgrims have been killed and 38 were injured after their vehicle crashed while travelling to a shrine in southwestern Pakistan, officials said, Paralel.Az reports citing Al Jazeera.
The accident took place at about 10pm (17:00 GMT) on Wednesday in the Hub district of Balochistan province, police said on Thursday.
“The truck was overspeeding and it went out of the driver’s control while negotiating a turn” and fell into a ravine in a mountainous town as they approached the shrine, district deputy commissioner Munir Ahmed told the AFP news agency.
They were on their way to the Shah Noorani Sufi shrine in the city of Khuzdar, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported, when the accident happened during Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Police officer Sakro Wajid Ali said the driver, who was also injured, was taken into custody.
Shaukat Jalbani, the deputy medical superintendent of Hub’s main hospital, confirmed the 17 deaths and said most of the injured had been sent to Karachi for treatment.