: As many as 36 people were killed in two separate bus accidents in Pakistan, Al Jazeera reported, citing local authorities. 12 people were killed on the Makran Coastal Highway in the southwest province of Balochistan, Pakistan's Interior Ministry said on Sunday, while a rescue official said 24 people were killed when a bus plunged into a deep ravine near Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). The first accident occurred overnight, when a bus carrying Shia pilgrims returning from Iran for religious commemoration veered off the road.
32 people were also injured and reported to be in critical condition, the provincial government said. Four people remained trapped inside the coach, and a crane was ordered to evacuate them, local police authorities said, according to Pakistani news outlet Dawn. The second accident took place in the Kahuta district in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province.
It was heading towards PoJK. Initially, local police said that there were seven injured, but later doctors and government officials said that everyone onboard the bus died in the crash. Raja Moazzam, a rescue official, said most of the bodies had been identified.
"The accident was caused due to the coaster's failed brakes," rescue official Usman Gujjar told Dawn. Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief on the incidents in separate statements. Pak Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also expressed his "heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the families.