Minibus crash kills 15 in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province

Police spokesperson blames accident on 'severe road damage'

At least 15 people were killed when a minibus overturned and crashed into a valley in northeastern Afghanistan on Saturday, police said.

The bus “veered off course and fell into a valley” as it was travelling along a road in Badakhshan province towards its capital Faizabad, a provincial police spokesperson said, blaming the accident on “severe road damage”.

The victims include six children, five women and four men, the spokesperson added.

Three of them died at the hospital after being taken there with serious injuries, raising the overall death toll from the accident to 15.

Deadly traffic crashes are common in Afghanistan, due in part to poor roads after decades of conflict, dangerous driving and a lack of regulation.

A bus carrying migrants returning from Iran crashed in western Herat province in August last year, killing 78 people, including more than a dozen children.

The bus collided with a motorcycle and a truck, according to authorities, in one of the deadliest crashes in years.

Also in August, 25 people were killed when a bus overturned on a highway near the capital Kabul “due to the driver’s negligence”, officials said.