‘Overspeeding’ truck plunges into ravine killing 17 pilgrims in Pakistan
Al Jazeera
Passengers were en route to a pilgrimage site in Balochistan when the crash took place during Eid al-Fitr.
At least 17 pilgrims have been killed and 41 injured after their vehicle crashed while travelling to a shrine in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.
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.
The driver jumped out of the vehicle to safety, according to Ahmed.
