More than 50 people were killed when two buses and a fuel tanker collided Sunday on a major highway in Afghanistan,
Agence France-Presse reported.
The two buses were carrying a total of 125 passengers, said Jawed Salangi, spokesman for the governor of the eastern Ghazni province. He said there were 73 survivors on the buses and the collision set all three vehicles ablaze,
“With 73 survivors out of the 125, 52 people are dead,” he said, adding that the survivors had been transferred to hospitals.
The collision happened at 7 a.m. on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to the southern city of Kandahar. Salangi said the road had been cleared and re-opened early in the afternoon.
The buses were traveling one behind the other from Kabul to Kandahar when the accident happened, according to Mohammadullah Ahmadi, director of the provincial traffic department. He blamed the crash on reckless driving.
He said local residents helped firefighters and first responders pull survivors from the wreckage.
Road accidents are common in Afghanistan, where roads are often in poor condition and traffic laws are rarely enforced.
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