ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least 40 Arbaeen pilgrims were injured, and several others killed in a devastating traffic accident on Wednesday in Iraq’s southern Basra province. The incident occurred during the ongoing million-man Arbaeen pilgrimage, one of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings.
According to the Basra Health Department, the accident took place between the Rumaila and Sidra checkpoints - southwest and north of Basra, respectively.
The department confirmed "40 injuries and several initial fatalities" among the pilgrims but did not disclose their nationalities. Emergency teams were placed on high alert to handle the influx of casualties.
The pilgrims were making their way to the shrine city of Karbala in southern Iraq to mark Arbaeen, which commemorates the end of the 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein ibn Ali - the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad - who was killed in the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.
This year’s pilgrimage is set to culminate on August 15.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, a horrific head-on collision between an SUV and a single-decker bus claimed the lives of five people and injured more than 19 others on the road between the Afak district and Nafar sub-district in Diwaniyah province, southern Iraq.
Among the fatalities were two sons of Iraqi lawmaker Karim Aliwi al-Muhammadawi, the head of the Iraqi Parliament's Security and Defense Committee.
Amer al-Rakabi, a spokesperson for the Diwaniyah police, stated that the SUV carrying Muhammadawi’s sons collided with the bus, resulting in 24 casualties. The affected persons included “men, women, and children,” according to Ahmed Kateh, operations officer at the Afak district health department. Some of the injured were transferred to specialized hospitals for further treatment.
Deadly road accidents during the Arbaeen pilgrimage have become a recurring tragedy in Iraq, often attributed to poor infrastructure, overcrowded routes, and reckless driving.
In September 2023, a crash in the northern Salahaddin province killed at least 16 people, including 12 Iranian pilgrims. At the time, a medical official told AFP that the driver may have fallen asleep.
A year earlier, 11 Iranian pilgrims and their Iraqi driver were killed in a minibus collision in Iraq’s Babil province. The Iranian Red Crescent Society also reported at least nine Iranian deaths that same month due to various health issues, including heatstroke.
