55 people killed, injured in bus, fuel tanker collision in Afghanistan

At least 35 people were killed early Sunday when a passenger bus struck a fuel tanker in a head-on collision in the southern province of Zabul, Sky News reported quoting Afghan officials.

“The passenger bus was on its way from Kandahar to Kabul when it collided with a fuel tanker. In the accident, 35 people were killed and more than 20 others were wounded,” Zabul’s Governor Bismillah Afghanmal told reporters.

The collision sparked an inferno and many of the victims, including women and children, were burned beyond recognition, he said.

Some of the wounded were rushed to hospitals in provincial capital Qalat as well as neighbouring Kandahar province, said Ghulam Jilani Farahi, deputy Zabul police chief.

The Kabul-Kandahar highway passes through militancy-prone areas and many bus drivers are known to drive recklessly at top speeds so as not to get caught in insurgent activity.

Source: MENA