PESHAWAR: Nine Chinese workers were among 13 people killed on Wednesday when a blast on a bus sent it careening down a ravine in north-western Pakistan, officials said.
The bus was carrying Chinese engineers, surveyors and mechanical staff to the Dasu dam site in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which is under construction.
“The blast sparked a fire in the engine plunging the vehicle into a ravine, a local government official told AFP, requesting not be named.
He said a further 28 Chinese nationals were injured.
A senior local police official, who also asked not to be named, confirmed the incident and said “it was a heavy blast but its nature is not known yet.”
The Chinese embassy in Pakistan posted a statement on Wednesday, saying that “a certain project of a Chinese firm in Pakistan suffered an attack, which caused the deaths of Chinese nationals.”
It urged Chinese firms to strengthen their security procedures.
Security of Chinese workers has long been an issue of concern in Pakistan, where Beijing has poured in tens of billions of dollars in recent years, and large numbers of Chinese nationals are now based in the country to supervise and build infrastructure projects.
13 killed, including 9 Chinese nationals, in Pakistan bus blast — officials
https://arab.news/n9f6h
13 killed, including 9 Chinese nationals, in Pakistan bus blast — officials
- Bus was carrying Chinese engineers, surveyors and mechanical staff to Dasu dam site in northwest
- Security of Chinese workers has long been an issue of concern in Pakistan
Pakistanis at remote border describe scramble to leave Iran
- Returning Pakistani nationals recount missile fire in Tehran, transport gridlock as people rush to exit Iran
- PM Sharif condemns targeting of Iranian leader as embassies urge citizens to leave amid escalating strikes
TAFTANT, Pakistan: Pakistani nationals hauled suitcases across the border from neighboring Iran, describing missiles being launched and travel chaos as they scrambled to leave the country after the US and Israel launched strikes over the weekend.
AFP journalists saw a steady trickle of people passing through large metal gates at the remote border crossing between Iran’s Mirjaveh and Taftan in Pakistan’s western Balochistan province.
Powerful explosions have rocked Iran’s capital Tehran since Saturday, with embassies from countries around the world telling their citizens to leave.
“All our Pakistani brothers who were in Tehran and other cities had started to leave and were arriving at the terminal, which caused a lot of crowd pressure,” 38-year-old trader Ameer Muhammad told AFP on Monday.
“Due to the crowds, there were major transport problems.”
The isolated Taftan border lies around 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Balochistan’s capital and largest city, Quetta.
AFP journalists saw the Iranian flag flying at half-mast as soldiers stood guard.
Most people wheeled bulky luggage over the frontier’s foot crossing, while freight lorries formed a long line.
Irshad Ahmed, a 49-year-old pilgrim, told AFP he was staying at a hostel in Tehran when he saw missiles being fired nearby.
“There was an army base near the hostel, and we saw many missiles being fired,” he said.
“After that, we went to the Pakistani embassy so that they could evacuate us from there. They brought us here safely.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a “violation” of international law.
“It is an age old convention that the Heads of State/Government should not be targeted,” Sharif wrote on X.
The “people of Pakistan join the people of Iran in their hour of grief and sorrow and extend the most sincere condolences on the martyrdom” of Khamenei, he added.
A teacher at Tehran’s Pakistani embassy, who gave his name as Saqib, told AFP: “Before we left, the situation was normal. The situation was not that bad.”
The 38-year-old said the strikes on Tehran on Saturday “pushed us to leave the city.”
“The situation became bad on Saturday night, when attacks caused precious lives to be lost,” he said.
