パキスタンでバスの転落事故相次ぐ　３６人死亡

【ラワルピンディ（パキスタン）ＡＦＰ＝時事】パキスタンで２５日、バス転落事故が相次いで発生し、少なくとも３６人が死亡した。救助および警察当局が発表した。（写真は、パキスタン・パンジャブ州北部カフタ近郊で起きたバス転落事故の現場）
　パンジャブ州北部カフタ近郊の峡谷で起きた転落事故では、乗客乗員２４人全員が死亡した。
　病院に駆けつけた遺族の女性はＡＦＰに、父親、女のきょうだい、１歳のおいを亡くしたと話した。
　バルチスタン州のマクラン沿岸ハイウエー起きた別の事故では、巡礼のためにイランへと向かっていたが入国できず引き返してきたバスが谷に転落。１２人が死亡した。
　事故現場はイラン国境近郊の町ピシンから約５００キロ離れた山岳地帯だった。
　地元当局は「バスは（イラクの宗教行事）アルバインの巡礼者を乗せていたが、書類に不備がありイラン国境で追い返されていた」と明らかにした。
　アルバインをめぐっては、２０日にもパキスタン人の巡礼者５１人を乗せたバスがイランの検問所で横転・炎上し、２８人が死亡している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/26-17:02）

At least 36 people were killed in two separate bus accidents in Pakistan on Sunday, including 12 pilgrims who had been trying to reach Iran, rescue and police officials said.
All 24 people on board a bus were killed when it plunged into a ravine near the town of Azad Pattan on the border between Punjab province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
I have lost three members of my family, Tara Zafar, who travelled to the hospital after hearing about the accident, told AFP.
Her father, sister and one-year-old nephew were among the dead.
I hoped that at least one of them had survived. It's doomsday for my family.
Umar Farooq, a senior government official from Sudhanoti district, where the bus started its journey, told AFP at the crash site 24 were travelling in the bus and all 24 have died.
Around 20 villagers helped to retrieve bodies before officials arrived.
We carried the bodies out of the ravine wrapped in shawls and scarves, Manazir Hussain, a 44 year old retired army soldier told AFP.
In a separate incident, 12 men died when their bus crashed into a ravine on the Makran Coastal Highway in Balochistan, after being prevented from crossing into Iran.
An army crane helped to remove the bus from the ravine and no further bodies or wounded people were found.
This is a particularly treacherous tract of road, with many twists and turns. The driver was speeding and the bus fell into a deep ravine, police official Aslam Bangulzai, who was at the scene, told AFP.
The accident occurred in a mountainous area, around 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the nearest town of Uthal and 500 kilometres from the Iran border town of Pishin.
The bus was carrying pilgrims on its way to Arbaeen (pilgrimage) but was turned back at the Iran border because their documents had some problems, said Hamood Ur Rehman, a senior government official in the nearby district of Gwadar.
Road accidents with high fatalities are common in Pakistan, where safety measures are lax, driver training is poor and transport infrastructure often decrepit.
On Saturday, the bodies of 28 pilgrims who died in a bus crash in Iran were returned to Pakistan.
The bus was carrying 51 Pakistani pilgrims who were passing through Iran to attend the Arbaeen commemoration in Iraq, one of the biggest events of the Shiite calendar, when it overturned and caught fire in front of a checkpoint in Yazd province on Tuesday night, Iranian state TV reported.