At least 71 people, including 17 children, were killed when a passenger bus carrying Afghan migrants deported from Iran collided with a truck and a motorcycle on a highway in western Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.
The crash happened Monday on the Herat–Islam Qala road in Guzara district, Taliban authorities said. The bus, travelling from Islam Qala toward Kabul, burst into flames after hitting a motorcycle and then a fuel truck. Three survivors were critically injured.
Taliban police blamed the accident on the bus driver’s “high speed and recklessness.” Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi, spokesman for the Taliban-appointed governor of Herat, told Agence France-Presse the passengers had recently been expelled from Iran and were en route to Kabul.
Iran has deported hundreds of thousands of Afghans this year, many of whom are temporarily housed in camps near the Islam Qala border crossing before being transferred to other provinces.
Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, where roads remain damaged by years of war, driving rules are rarely enforced, and poorly maintained vehicles crowd major highways. Last year, 52 people were killed in two separate crashes involving a fuel tanker and a truck on a central Afghan highway.
