TEHRAN: A news agency in Iran is reporting that a car crash involving Afghan migrants has killed 14 people.

The semiofficial Mehr news agency reported on Sunday that the crash between two cars happened late on Saturday night on the outskirts of the town of Darab in southern Iran.

The agency identified 13 of the dead as Afghan migrants who illegally crossed the border into Iran, as well as an Iranian driver of one of the cars.

It did not offer a cause for the crash, though it said the cars burst into flames after the collision. Iran has one of the world’s worst traffic safety records, with some 16,000 killed each year.

The high death tolls are blamed on high-speed driving, unsafe vehicles, disregard of traffic laws and inadequate emergency services.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2014