At least 13 pilgrims were killed when their crashed into a ravine on the Makran Coastal Highway in Lasbela, Balochistan, after being prevented from crossing into Iran.

“An army crane is on its way to help lift the bus from the ravine to check if passengers are pinned underneath the vehicle. Therefore the death toll may rise,” police official Aslam Bangulzai, who was at the scene, told AFP.

“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,” he added.

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.

The bus, carrying pilgrims returning from Iran, is believed to have veered off the road and plunged into a ravine due to brake failure caused by excessive speed.

Police confirmed that the bus was travelling to Punjab.

Police officials stated that the pilgrims were from Lahore and Gujranwala in Punjab. Rescue operations were under way, involving police, Levies, and other agencies.

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Road accidents with high fatalities are common in Pakistan, where safety measures are lax, driver training is poor and transport infrastructure is 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 Shia calendar, when it overturned and caught fire in front of a checkpoint in Yazd province on Tuesday night, Iranian state TV reported.