At least 73 people, including 17 children, have been killed in a devastating traffic accident in western Afghanistan after a bus carrying Afghan migrants deported from Iran collided with two vehicles and caught fire, local officials confirmed on Wednesday.
The incident occurred late Tuesday night in Herat province, when the bus, en route to Kabul, crashed into a truck and a motorcycle before bursting into flames.
“All the passengers were migrants who had boarded the vehicle in Islam Qala,” said provincial governor spokesman Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi, referring to a town on the Afghanistan–Iran border where thousands of deported Afghans cross each week. He confirmed that no one aboard the bus survived. Two additional people travelling in the other vehicles also died in the collision.
Herat police blamed the tragedy on “excessive speed and negligence” by the bus driver, as reported. Taliban officials said rescue workers struggled to recover bodies because the fire spread so quickly after the crash.
The victims were among the growing number of Afghans expelled from Iran in recent months, amid a sharp rise in deportations of undocumented migrants. Iranian authorities have intensified removals since early this year, citing national security concerns, though critics argue the expulsions are politically motivated and target Afghans as scapegoats.
More than 1.5 million Afghans have been forced to leave Iran since January, according to the UN Refugee Agency. Some of them had lived in Iran for generations, working in construction, agriculture, and low-wage jobs.
Iran had previously announced a July deadline for undocumented Afghans to depart voluntarily, but since its brief war with Israel in June, Tehran has accelerated forced deportations, claiming Afghans pose security risks. Human rights groups and refugee advocates say these claims mask deeper social and economic tensions within Iran.
Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, millions of Afghans have fled to neighboring Iran and Pakistan, with both countries hosting large refugee populations. The Taliban’s return to power in 2021 triggered another major exodus, but in recent years both Iran and Pakistan have tightened restrictions and launched mass deportations.
This policy has left many Afghan families stranded in transit towns like Islam Qala, where migrants often face poverty, discrimination, and a lack of safe transport back to their homes.
Experts warn that Afghanistan, already under severe economic and humanitarian strain, cannot cope with the growing influx of returnees. The Taliban administration has limited resources to provide housing, jobs, or services for deported families.
“The return of so many people is creating an additional strain on already overstretched resources, and this new wave of refugees comes at a time when Afghanistan is starting to feel the brutal impacts of aid cuts,” said Arshad Malik, country director of Save the Children Afghanistan.
The country is simultaneously absorbing returnees from Pakistan, which has also forced hundreds of thousands of Afghans to leave in recent months.
The Herat accident has further highlighted the dangers of Afghanistan’s fragile infrastructure. Decades of war have left roads badly damaged, while weak enforcement of traffic regulations and poorly maintained vehicles make travel hazardous. Traffic accidents are a leading cause of mass casualties in the country.
Tuesday’s tragedy underscores the deadly consequences of the region’s worsening refugee crisis with families fleeing insecurity and poverty abroad only to face death upon return.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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