More than 20 killed in Afghanistan traffic collision

Eleven people with major injuries rushed to a nearby hospital in Helmand province

Security personnel and volunteers standing near the wreckage of burned passenger bus and oil tanker on the Herat-Kandahar highway in Grishk district of Helmand province (Afghanistan’s Helmand Information Department/AFP via Getty Images)

At least 21 people died and 38 others sustained injuries on Sunday when a passenger bus collided with an oil tanker in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province.

A motorbike collided with a Kabul-bound bus, resulting in the immediate fatalities of both riders.

Subsequently, the bus driver, having lost control, veered into the opposite lane, striking an oil tanker en route to Herat, the provincial information department said on X.

The vehicles were engulfed in fire that erupted shortly after the collision, according to authorities.

Images from the accident spot showed charred, twisted metal scattered across the highway. Law enforcement authorities have initiated a probe into the traffic collision, said Qadratullah, a traffic official in Helmand.

Two people on the motorbike, three in the tanker and 16 passengers on the bus died on the spot of the accident.

Eleven people, who sustained major injuries, were transferred to hospitals, said Hzatullah Haqqani, a spokesman for the Helmand police chief.

Security personnel and volunteers standing near the wreckage of a burned passenger bus and oil tanker on the Herat-Kandahar highway in the Grishk district of Helmand province (Afghanistan's Helmand Information)

Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, mainly due to poor road conditions and driver carelessness.

In December 2022, at least 31 people were killed when an oil tanker overturned and caught fire in Afghanistan’s Salang pass.