Afghan bus-tanker crash kills 51
15 September, 2012
GHAZNI: A passenger bus collided with a fuel tanker in Afghanistan on Friday, killing 51 people and injuring several others, with women and children among the victims, officials said. The incident happened in Ab Band district of Ghazni province, on the highway from Kabul to Kandahar, the capital of the south and Afghanistan's second largest city, on what is one of the most dangerous roads in the country. One official said the fuel tanker belonged to an Afghan trader and Ghazni is part of the supply route for NATO goods coming into Afghanistan from the north and heading south. "At around 6:30am, a passenger bus collided with a fuel tanker in the Spin Band area of Ab Band," deputy governor of the province, Muhammad Ali Ahmadi told reporters. "As a result, the fuel tanker and the passenger bus caught fire and 51 people were killed and six others were wounded in the collision. There are women and children among the victims," he said. He said most of the dead were burnt beyond recognition. Four women were among the 50 killed on the bus and the driver of the fuel tanker was also killed, he said. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said 50 people had died. Baz Muhammad Himmat, the head of the main hospital in Ghazni city, said only that five wounded had been brought in after the accident, but had no information about the dead. End.
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