Afghanistan is bereaved by a terrible tragedy on the road. Nineteen people were killed when a tanker crashed into a high-altitude tunnel in the eastern Salang Pass, Taliban officials said on Sunday.
According to Hekmatullah Shamim, spokesman for the governor of Parwan province, there are also 32 injured. A provincial official in charge of health issues, Abdullah Afghan Mal, for his part indicated that “many women and severely burned children” are among the dead.
A drama in the night
On Saturday night, “a tank truck overturned and caught fire in the Salang tunnel, which then set fire to several other vehicles”, explained Hamidullah Misbah, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Works. , adding that the balance sheet should increase. The Salang Pass, located north of Kabul, was closed to traffic and rescue teams were airlifted to the site.
The Salang Pass, one of the highest mountain roads on the planet (3,650 meters), was built by Soviet specialists in the 1950s. It includes a 2.6 kilometer long tunnel crossing the Hindu Kush, thus connecting Kabul to the north of the country. The numerous accidents, heavy snowfalls and avalanches in winter force the authorities to regularly close the tunnel for several days. In 2010, more than 150 people were also killed in avalanches at Salang Pass.