Truck crash in eastern Afghanistan kills 18, including 10 children PHOTO

A truck carrying returning migrants overturned in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday (May 30), killing 18 people, including 10 children, according to a provincial official.

The vehicle, travelling on the road between Jalalabad and Kabul, was transporting Afghan families returning from Pakistan, where they had been living, said Abdul Malik Niazay, spokesperson for the governor of Laghman Province, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

“Eighteen people (have died), including 10 children, five women and three men. In addition, 29 people have been injured,” the spokesperson said.

The accident occurred on the main route linking Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan with the capital, Kabul.

Road accidents remain frequent across Afghanistan, driven by deteriorated infrastructure, weak regulation and dangerous driving conditions after decades of conflict.

Authorities in Pakistan have recently tightened their stance on Afghan migrants and refugees, prompting increased returns. Many families have been travelling with their belongings in overloaded trucks.

According to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration, 447,400 Afghans have returned from Pakistan since the start of the year.

The incident follows another deadly crash in August last year, when a collision involving a bus carrying Afghan migrants returning from Iran and two other vehicles in western Afghanistan killed 78 people, including 19 children.

By Aghakazim Guliyev