A passenger bus carrying migrants recently returned from Iran has collided with a truck and a motorcycle in western Afghanistan, killing 71 people.

The accident occurred late on Tuesday in Herat province.

Among the people killed were 17 children, provincial government spokesperson Ahmadullah Muttaqi said.

Police in Herat province said the accident was caused due to the bus’s “excessive speed and negligence” on a road outside Herat city in Guzara district.

The bus was carrying Afghans recently returned from Iran and en route to the capital, Kabul, provincial governor spokesperson Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi told AFP.

A massive wave of Afghans has returned from Iran in recent months after Tehran initiated a pressure campaign to force millions of migrants to leave.

More than 1.6 million people have returned to Afghanistan since the start of this year from Iran and Pakistan, which have long hosted millions of Afghans fleeing decades of war and humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations migration agency.

Police in Guzara district said a motorcycle was also involved in the accident on Tuesday night.

The bus first collided with the motorcycle, then hit the truck, which was carrying fuel, police said, adding that the collision sparked a fire.

Three bus passengers survived, according to police.

Two people travelling in the truck and another two on the motorcycle were among the dead.

An AFP journalist at the site saw the burnt shell of the bus on the road hours after the accident, along with the broken remains of the two other vehicles.

Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, due in part to poor roads after decades of conflict, dangerous driving on highways and a lack of regulation.

In December last year, two bus accidents involving a fuel tanker and a truck on a highway through central Afghanistan killed at least 52.

Source: Reuters/AFP

- Agencies