Death toll from oil tanker explosion in Afghanistan rises to 31

By Bilal Guler and Sayed Khodaiberdi Sadat

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) – The death toll from an oil tanker explosion in Afghanistan reached 31 on Monday, authorities said.

An oil tanker overturned and caught fire in Afghanistan’s Salang pass, which is the only gateway connecting Afghanistan's northern provinces to the capital Kabul.

A spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Sharafat Zaman Amer, told reporters that so far 31 people, including women and children, have died and 37 others were injured.

The incident happened in the province of Parwan late on Saturday.

Noting that people are still trapped beneath the rubble, Zaman stated that search and rescue efforts are ongoing and that the number of casualties may rise.

While the Salang tunnel was not opened to traffic yet, eyewitnesses stated that there were trucks loaded with coal among the burning vehicles in the tunnel and that the fire continued.