Bodies of 28 Pakistani pilgrims killed in Iran bus crash repatriated on special flight

ISLAMABAD: The bodies of 28 Pakistani nationals who died in a bus crash in Iran while intending to visit religious shrines in Iraq arrived in their homeland on Friday night after the government sent a C-130 aircraft to the neighboring state for their repatriation.
The bus accident happened on Tuesday night in the central Iranian province of Yazd, according to Pakistani and Iranian authorities.
Another 23 people were injured in the crash, with more than a dozen reported to be in serious condition.
The funeral prayers for the deceased Pakistanis were offered in Iran before their bodies were flown back to the country along with 15 injured individuals who were discharged from the hospital after receiving medical treatment.
“A special flight has brought back the dead bodies of 28 pilgrims who were martyred in a tragic bus accident in Iran’s Yazd province,” Pakistan’s state-owned PTV news channel reported, airing visuals of the aircraft in Jacobabad city of the southern Sindh province.
A majority of the deceased Pakistanis belonged to Sindh’s Larkana district, according to a statement released by the information ministry earlier in the day.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Iran, Mudassir Tipu, had also announced on Friday all arrangements for the repatriation of the bodies, along with the injured people, had been completed.
Millions of Shias are currently present in Iraq’s Karbala Governorate to attend the 40th-day mourning ritual after observing the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), in 680 CE.
Iran has one of the world’s worst traffic safety records, with some 17,000 deaths annually. The grave toll is blamed on a widespread disregard for traffic laws, unsafe vehicles and inadequate emergency services in its vast rural areas.
Iranian state television has blamed Tuesday’s crash on the bus brakes failing and a lack of attention by its driver.