Herat accident: Victims’ bodies charred beyond recognition

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): The bodies of all victims of Tuesday night’s deadly traffic accident in western Herat province, charred beyond recognition, will be transferred to Kabul, local officials said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday night, a passenger bus (type “580”) traveling from the Islam Qala border toward Kabul collided with a motorcycle and a Mazda truck on the Herat ring road in Guzara district, and subsequently caught fire.

As a result of the incident, 79 people, including 76 recently returned migrants from Iran, lost their lives.

Mawlawi Ahmadullah Muttaqi, head of Herat’s Information and Culture Department and spokesperson for the High Commission for Refugees Affairs, said that the transfer, preparation and burial of the “martyrs” of last night’s tragic traffic accident has begun in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense and the 207 Al-Farooq Army Corps in Herat.

He added that the victims’ bodies were first transferred to the Army Corps hospital and planned to be sent to Kabul’s central hospital for identification and handover to their families.

At the same time, the head of Herat’s Information and Culture Department stated that the victims were residents of Kabul, Kapisa, Baghlan, Kunduz, Parwan, Maidan Wardak, Ghazni and Bamyan provinces.

Meanwhile, Mullah Janan Muqadas, chief physician of the 207 Al-Farooq Army Corps hospital in western Afghanistan, confirmed that the victims’ bodies were unidentifiable due to the severity of burns.

sa/ma