The death toll from a collision between a bus carrying Afghan migrants returning from Iran and two other vehicles in western Afghanistan has risen to 76, a provincial official said on Wednesday.

“Seventy-six citizens of the country… lost their lives in the incident, and three others were seriously injured,” Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi, Herat provincial government spokesman, said in a statement.

Police in Guzara district outside Herat city, where the accident took place on Tuesday night, said the bus collided with a motorcycle and a truck carrying fuel, sparking a fire.

The bus was carrying Afghans recently returned from Iran to the capital Kabul, Saeedi told AFP on Tuesday.

At least 1.5 million people have returned to Afghanistan since the start of this year from Iran and Pakistan, both of which have sought to force migrants out after decades of hosting them, according to the UN migration agency.

The state-run Bakhtar News Agency said Tuesday’s accident was one of the deadliest in the country in recent years.

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.

Opinion

Editorial

The May war
Updated 06 May, 2026

The May war

Rationality demands that both states come to the table and discuss their grievances, and their solutions in a mature manner.
Looking inwards
06 May, 2026

Looking inwards

REGULAR appraisals by human rights groups and activists should not be treated by the authorities as attempts to ...
Feeling the heat
06 May, 2026

Feeling the heat

ANOTHER heatwave season has begun, and once again, the state is scrambling to respond to conditions it has long been...
Energy shock
Updated 05 May, 2026

Energy shock

The longer the crisis persists, the more profound its consequences will be.
Unchecked HIV
05 May, 2026

Unchecked HIV

PAKISTAN’S HIV surge is no longer a slow-burning public health concern. It is now a system failure unfolding in...
PSL thrills
05 May, 2026

PSL thrills

BY the end of it all, in front of fans who had been absent for almost the entire 11th season of the Pakistan Super...