At least 71 people, including 17 children, were killed in a devastating road accident in Afghanistan’s western Herat province when a passenger bus caught fire after colliding with a truck and motorcycle, officials said Wednesday.

Provincial government spokesman Ahmadullah Muttaqi confirmed the toll in a post on X, calling it one of the deadliest traffic disasters in recent memory. “A bus collided with a truck and a motorcycle in Herat, resulting in the martyrdom of 71 people,” he wrote.

The bus was carrying Afghans deported from Iran and traveling toward Kabul after crossing the border, provincial official Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi told AFP. “All the passengers were migrants who had boarded the vehicle in Islam Qala,” Saeedi said, referring to the key crossing point into Iran.

– Ends

With inputs from agencies