TWO separate bus accidents in Pakistan left at least 35 people dead and dozens more injured today.

The first happened when a bus carrying Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims returning from Iraq through Iran fell from a highway in south-west Pakistan into a ravine, killing at least 12 people and injuring 32, police and officials said.

The driver lost control of the bus on the Makran coastal highway when its brakes failed while passing through the Lasbela district of Baluchistan province on its way to the eastern province of Punjab, local police said.

Hours later, 23 people, including two women and a child, were killed when a bus fell from a bridge into a ravine in Punjab’s Kahuta district, police and officials said. At least seven more were injured.

The bus was heading to the Pakistani-administrated part of Kashmir, which is claimed in its entirety by both Pakistan and India.

Today’s crashes occurred days after 28 Pakistani pilgrims were killed in a bus crash in Iran while travelling to the Iraqi holy city of Karbala.

Thousands of Shi’ites go to Karbala every year to commemorate Arbaeen, which marks the end of the annual 40-day mourning period following the date of the 7th century death of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Hussein.