Bus crash kills 28 Pakistan pilgrims en route to Iraq

A video grab shows the aftermath of a bus crash near Taft, Iran. Pic/AFP

A bus carrying Shiite pilgrims from Pakistan to Iraq crashed in central Iran, killing at least 28 people, an official said Wednesday.

The crash happened Tuesday night in the central Iranian province of Yazd, said Mohammad Ali Malekzadeh, a local emergency official, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

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Another 23 people suffered injuries in the crash, 14 of them serious, he added. He said all the bus passengers hailed from Pakistan.

There were 51 people on board at the time of the crash outside of the city of Taft, some 500 km southeast of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

In the state TV report, Malekzadeh blamed the crash on the bus brakes failing and a lack of attention by its driver.

In Pakistan, authorities described those on the bus as coming from the city of Larkana in Pakistan's southern Sindh province. The pilgrims had been on their way to Iraq to commemorate Arbaeen.

Iran has one of the world's worst traffic safety records with some 17,000 deaths annually.

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