CHARIKAR, Afghanistan — An oil tanker overturned and
caught fire in Afghanistan’s high-altitude Salang pass, killing 12 people and
injuring dozens, officials said on Sunday.
اضافة اعلان
The incident happened late on Saturday in the province of
Parwan, north of Kabul, leaving travelers on both sides of the mountainous pass
stranded.
At least 12 people were killed and 37 others were injured in
the incident, said Hamidullah Misbah, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Works, adding the toll was expected to rise.
“An oil tanker overturned and caught fire in the Salang
tunnel, which then set several other vehicles on fire,” Misbah told AFP.
Abdullah Afghan Mal, a senior health official in Parwan,
said many of the dead included women and children who were badly burned.
“Among the dead it was very hard to identify who was a male
and who was a female,” he said.
The pass was now closed for traffic as rescue teams in
helicopters deployed at the site, officials said.
The Salang pass, one of the highest mountain highways in the
world at around 3,650m was built by Soviet-era specialists in the 50s and
includes a 2.6km tunnel.
The pass runs through the Hindu Kush mountain range that
connects capital Kabul to the north.
Hailed as an engineering feat upon completion, the Salang
pass is often shut for days because of accidents, heavy snowfalls and
avalanches during the winter.
In 2010, avalanches killed more than 150 people in the
Salang pass.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
