Afghanistan bus crash death toll rises to 79, including 19 children

The number of deaths of a bus accident in western Afghanistan increased to 79, after the death of two survivors of their injuries, said an administration official by Taliban.

The incident occurred late Tuesday in the Guzara district of Herat province, when a passenger bus carrying Afghan repatriates from Iran struck a motorcycle and a fuel truck, triggering a huge fire.

At least 19 children were one of the people killed, Abdul Mateen Qani, interim ministry spokesman for the interior, said on Wednesday in Kabul.

Mohammad Janan Moqadas, chief doctor of the military hospital, said that many bodies were too seriously burned to be identified.

A journalist from the AFP news agency reported that cleaning teams were working on Wednesday to remove the burned bus and the twisted wreck of other vehicles.

“There was a lot of fire … There was a lot of cries, but we couldn’t even go less than 50 meters to save anyone,” Akbar Tawakoli told AFP. “Only three people were saved from the bus. They were also on fire and their clothes were burned. ”

Abdullah, 25, another witness, told AFP: “I was very saddened that most of the bus passengers are children and women.”

The bus was carrying the recently expelled Afghans from Iran to the capital, said Kabul, provincial spokesperson Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi. The central government has ordered an investigation.

“It is with deep sadness that we mourn the loss of many Afghan lives and the injuries suffered in a tragic bus collision and a subsequent fire in the province of Herat last night,” he said in a statement.

According to the United Nations Migrés Agency, more than 1.5 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan this year. Many arrive with few means and face disastrous conditions in a country fighting against poverty and mass unemployment.

The Bakhtar news agency managed by the state has described the incident as one of Afghanistan’s deadliest accidents in recent years.

In December 2023, two separate bus accidents involving oil tankers killed 52 people, while in March 2024, 20 others died in a collision in the province of Helmand. At the end of 2022, an oil tanker overturned in the Salang pass, triggering a fire that killed 31.