Islamabad - Pakistani authorities on Saturday recovered at least 50 bodies and dozens of unconscious people from a shipping container in Pakistan's south-western province of Balochistan, according to police.

The container, which was found parked on the outskirts of the provincial capital Quetta, was carrying 110 people, apparently illegal immigrants being transported from Afghanistan to Iran via Pakistan.

Fifty bodies and 60 people have been recovered from the container, a senior police official, Wazir Khan Nasir, told DawnNews television channel. The deaths apparently occurred because of suffocation.

The dead and the unconscious victims, most of them Afghan, were transferred to the Bolan Medical Complex hospital in Quetta.

Authorities feared the death toll might rise as many of the unconscious victims were in critical condition. (dpa)