Herat Bus Crash Death Toll Rises to 79

DID Press: The death toll from a deadly road accident in western Afghanistan’s Herat province reached 79, officials said.

According to Ahmadullah Muttaqi, spokesperson for the Taliban’s caretaker administration in Herat, the crash occurred late on Tuesday, August 18, when a passenger bus carrying Afghanistani migrants returning from Iran collided with a cargo truck and a motorcycle on Herat–Kabul highway.

Authorities said the bus caught fire after the collision, and most of the victims died in the blaze. Seventeen children are among the dead.

Initial reports suggested dozens of fatalities, but the updated figures confirm a significant rise in casualties. Security officials blamed excessive speed and driver negligence as the primary causes of the disaster.

Rescue teams and security forces were dispatched to the site, and the dead and injured were taken to nearby medical facilities.