Police in western Afghanistan’s Herat province say the accident was as a result of bus’s ‘extreme pace and negligence’.
A minimum of 71 folks, together with 17 kids, have been killed in western Afghanistan after a passenger bus carrying refugees, just lately deported from neighbouring Iran, caught hearth after colliding with a truck and bike, in line with provincial authorities spokesman Ahmadullah Muttaqi and native police.
Police in Herat province mentioned on Tuesday that the accident was as a result of bus’s “extreme pace and negligence”.
The returnees are a part of a massive wave of Afghans deported or compelled out of Iran in latest months.
The accident came about a day after Iranian Minister of Inside Eskandar Momeni introduced {that a} additional 800,000 folks must go away the nation by subsequent March.
The bus was carrying Afghans just lately returned from Iran and en path to the capital Kabul, provincial official Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi instructed the AFP information company on Tuesday. He added that each one the passengers boarded the automobile in Islam Qala, a border crossing level.
Taliban authorities chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed to the dpa information company that the victims had been deported from Iran, however mentioned that additional particulars weren’t out there instantly.
Police within the Guzara district outdoors Afghanistan’s metropolis of Herat, the place the accident occurred, mentioned a bike was additionally concerned.
Nearly all of those that died have been on the bus, however two folks travelling within the truck have been additionally killed, in addition to one other two who have been on the bike.
Site visitors accidents are widespread in Afghanistan, due partly to poor roads after a long time of warfare, harmful driving on highways and a scarcity of regulation.
Final December, two bus accidents, involving a gasoline tanker and a truck on a freeway via central Afghanistan, killed a minimum of 52 folks.
Yearly, battle, persecution, poverty and excessive unemployment drive giant numbers of Afghans to cross the 300km (186-mile) Islam Qala border into Iran with out documentation. Many work in low-wage jobs in massive cities, together with on building websites, the place they’re valued as low cost and dependable labour.
Practically 450,000 Afghans have returned from Iran since early June, in line with the United Nations refugee company (UNHCR), after Tehran imposed a July 6 deadline for undocumented refugees to depart the nation.
The surge compounds Afghanistan’s present challenges, because the impoverished nation, again underneath hardline Taliban rule since 2021, struggles to combine waves of returnees from Pakistan and Iran since 2023, amid one of many world’s worst humanitarian crises after a long time of battle.
The UNHCR experiences that greater than 1.4 million folks have “returned or been compelled to return to Afghanistan” this 12 months alone. Iran’s late Could directive probably impacts 4 million undocumented Afghans among the many roughly 6 million Afghan residents claimed by Tehran.
Border crossings elevated dramatically from mid-June, with some days seeing roughly 40,000 folks getting into Afghanistan. Between June 1 and July 5, 449,218 Afghans returned from Iran, bringing the 2024 whole to 906,326, in line with an Worldwide Group for Migration spokesman.
