Passenger bus overturns in northern Afghanistan, killing 4

Passenger bus overturns in northern Afghanistan, killing 4

2012-01-12 09:29:04 GMT+7 (ICT)

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- Four people were killed on early Wednesday morning when a passenger bus overturned in northern Afghanistan, officials said. Dozens more were injured.

The accident happened at around 9 a.m. local time when the passenger bus overturned on the Kabul-Mazar-I-Sharif highway, located in the Khulm district of Balkh province.

Provincial Traffic Department chief Colonel Abdul Qadir told Pajhwok Afghan News that four people were killed as a result of the accident, while 50 others were injured and rushed to a hospital in Mazar-I-Sharif. The driver was not injured in the accident, he said.

Qadir said the death toll could still rise as some of the injured were reported to be in a critical condition, Pajhwok reported. The department chief also blamed the accident on speeding, although others suspect the driver may have fallen asleep.

In November 2011, fifteen people were killed when a passenger bus lost control and hit a motorcycle and two cars on the Kandahar-Herat highway in the Greshk district of Helmand province, which is located in southern Afghanistan.

Before that, in August 2011, a total of 34 people were killed when a bus rolled over in the Daman district of Kandahar province. Two dozen others were injured in what officials described as one of the country's worst traffic accidents in recent years.

According to the most recent figures released by the General Directorate of Road Care, road accidents on highways in Afghanistan killed more than 1,800 people in 2007. Many accidents in the country are blamed on the poor maintenance of roads and vehicles as well as dangerous driving.

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