Bus Accident Kills At Least 23 Pilgrims In Pakistan

Locals stand by the damaged bus at the site of the accident in Khuzdar, a remote district in the Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan Province on June 11.

Hospital officials in Pakistan say 23 people are dead and many more injured after a bus carrying religious faithful back from a visit to a Sufi shrine overturned on a highway in a southwestern district of Balochistan Province on June 11.

A local police official in Khuzdar said rescuers had taken the victims to a nearby hospital.

Authorities said the driver lost control of the speeding bus on a sharp turn before overturning, and later reports showed the heavily damaged vehicle lying at the bottom of a ravine.

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The bus was on its way back to the city of Dadu, in the neighboring Sindh Province, from annual Urs ceremonies marking the death of a Sufi saint.

At least 15 of the victims died on the spot, while local media reported that some of the dozens of injured were in critical condition at a hospital in Khuzdar.

"There is not a single passenger who does not have an injury," a Khuzdar official told AP.

South Asia's poor roads and disregard for safety contribute to some of the highest accident rates in the world.

Based on reporting by AP and Dawn.com