45 dead in Kandahar bus-tanker collision

KANDAHAR CITY (PAN): Forty-five people were killed and several others wounded in a road crash on the Kandahar-Helmand highway on Friday morning, officials said.

The head-on collision occurred when a passenger bus ploughed into a fuel tanker in the Maiwand district of Kandahar, the Helmand transport director said.

Abdul Ghafoor Tokhi told Pajhwok Afghan News the ill-fated bus was on its way from Lashkargah, the capital of southern Helmand province, to Kabul.

Javed Faisal, the Kandahar governor’s spokesman, said the accident happened in the Khak Chopan area of the district. He put the toll at 45 dead and 10 wounded.

Both vehicles caught fire due to the crash, the gubernatorial spokesman said. Many of the victims were charred beyond recognition.

Police evacuated the injured to the Mirwais Civil Hospital in Kandahar City, he said. The bus rammed into a stationary fuel tanker, resulting in the tragedy.

Dr. Abdul Qayyum Pukhla, the public health director, confirmed receiving eight of the wounded passengers. However, he did not comment on their condition.

Traffic police officer Mohammadullah Khan said a delegation had been sent to the site to investigate the collision.  

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