At least 21 killed, dozens injured in bus- fuel truck collision in Afghanistan

Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, with poor infrastructure exacerbated by decades of war that ended when foreign troops left in 2021

A traffic accident in southern Afghanistan killed 21 people and injured dozens on Sunday, the provincial government said.

Security personnel and volunteers standing near the wreckage of burned passenger bus and oil tanker after they and a motorbike collided on the Herat-Kandahar highway in Grishk district of Helmand province (AFP)

The crash on the Kandahar-Herat highway involved a motorcycle, a fuel truck and a bus, said Sher Mohammad Wahdat, head of the information department for Helmand's provincial government, adding 38 people were injured.

Photos in local media showed a tanker on fire on the dusty road and the wreckage of vehicles from the accident, which occurred in the Gereshk district of Helmand.

Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, with poor infrastructure exacerbated by decades of war that ended when foreign troops left in 2021 and the Taliban took over. Southern Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold during the war, saw some of the country's most intense fighting.