Time Early morning Date 3 September 2016 Injuries 28 | Non-fatal injuries 28 Total number of deaths 38 | |
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Participants 60+ passengers on the buses, 2 people in the fuel tanker. Property damage One bus and a fuel tanker destroyed. Location Zabul Province, Afghanistan | ||
On 3 September 2016, at least 38 people were killed and 28 were injured after a fuel tanker carrying two people collided with a passenger bus carrying over 60 people on the dangerous Kabul-Kandahar highway in the province of Zabul, Afghanistan. The accident comes after an even larger incident that occurred on the same highway in May.
Details
A bus carrying over 60 people, including many women and children, was hit by a fuel tanker carrying a driver and a passenger causing a large explosion during the early morning. The truck burst into flames, killing both of its occupants instantly. People in the bus were also burnt to death, resulting in only six people that could be identified by authorities.
Drivers are also known to speed on the highway so as not to get caught in insurgent activity, especially from the Taliban. The aim is to avoid the checkpoints that the Taliban have set up, since they sometimes kidnap and kill civilians, such as what happened during the Kunduz-Takhar highway hostage crisis where hundreds were kidnapped and many killed after they were captured at a Taliban checkpoint. Many passenger buses are also old and unsafe, and Afghanistan has some of the most dangerous roads in the world.