At least 28 Pakistani pilgrims travelling to Iraq for a Shiite Muslim ritual were killed as their bus crashed in central Iran, state media reported early Wednesday.
"A bus carrying 51 Pakistani pilgrims overturned and caught fire in front of Dehshir-Taft checkpoint in the central province of Yazd on Tuesday night," state television reported.
"28 people have been killed and 23 injured so far with the possibility of the death count increasing," it added.
Yazd province crisis management chief Ali Malek-zadeh told the broadcaster that some of the injured were in critical condition.
"Of the 23 injured, six have already been discharged from hospital, while the condition of seven others is critical," Malek-zadeh said.
"The dead consisted of 11 women and 17 men," he added.
The Pakistani pilgrims were headed through Iran to Iraq to attend the Arbaeen commemoration, one of the biggest events of the Shiite calendar which marks the 40th day of mourning for Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
Last year, some 22 million pilgrims attended the commemoration in the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala, where Hussein and his brother Abbas are buried, according to official figures.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
