Afghanistan truck crash as at least 12 adults and 10 kids killed after vehicle overturns
A horror truck has seen at least 22 people killed, including 10 children, and 26 others injured, after a truck overturned in a horror crash in Afghanistan, according to officials
The crash saw dozens injured taken to a hospital in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan (Image: AP Photo/Shafiullah Kakar)
A truck carrying Afghan refugees returning from neighbouring Pakistan has overturned in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 22 people and injuring about 36 others, most of them women and children, officials said.
The accident occurred in Laghman province on the main highway linking Kabul, the Afghan capital, with Nangarhar province, said Abdul Malik Niazai, the spokesperson for the provincial governor.
He said among the dead were 10 children and five women, and the injured were taken to hospitals in Nangarhar for medical treatment.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government spokesperson, expressed his sorrow over the incident and offered condolences to the victims’ families.
The provincial director of public health, Aminullah Sharif, said 22 people were killed and about 36 injured.
He said the accident occurred when the truck fell into a ditch after the driver allegedly fell asleep.
The passengers were among thousands of Afghans who recently returned from Pakistan, which launched a crackdown on undocumented migrants in 2023 and has since deported or pressured many to leave.
Iran also intensified expulsions of Afghan migrants around the same time.
Since then, millions of Afghans have returned home from the two countries, including many who were born in Pakistan and had spent decades living and working there.
In a separate accident in the eastern province of Nuristan, a car came off the road into a river on Friday night, injuring the driver and leaving four passengers missing, the governor’s office said.
Rescue crews were searching for the four, the office said.
Traffic accidents are common across Afghanistan, where roads are poorly maintained and drivers routinely ignore traffic regulations.
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