At least 79 people were killed after an overcrowded bus carrying Afghans expelled from Iran crashed in western Afghanistan, authroties said on Wednesday.
According to hmdullah Muttaqi, head of the information department for Herat’s provincial government, the crash on the Herat-Kabul highway involved a motorcycle, a truck and a bus late on Tuesday.
The bus was carrying Afghan refugees expelled from Iran, part of an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people, who were on their way from the border to Kabul.
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According to Abdul Mateen Qaniee, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, the bus caught fire following the accident, which occurred 30 minutes outside Herat. He reported on Wednesday that there were 79 deaths, including 17 children.
Video footage from the scene showed bright flames engulfing the bus, with a fire truck trying to douse the flames. A charred metal skeleton remained of the bus afterwards, pictures showed.
Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, with poor infrastructure exacerbated by decades of war, and drivers not following the rules.
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Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Afghan government said, “We urge transportation authorities to provide accurate information about the accident as soon as possible and to share their findings regarding the responsible party.”
Herat, a key border province of Afghanistan touching Iran and Turkmenistan, is currently hosting tens of thousands of deported migrants from Iran.
