In brief
A head‑on collision between a passenger bus and an oil tanker on the Salang Highway in Baghlan province on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, left five commuters dead and about twenty injured. Shaheed–Bakhtar News Agency reported driver negligence as the cause, while local health centers received the wounded. Separately, Pajhwok Afghan News confirmed the casualty figures and identified the bus as a 580‑seat model but gave no details on causes. Both reports note an investigation has been launched, though key details remain unclear.
On Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, a head‑on collision between a passenger bus and an oil tanker on the Salang Highway in Afghanistan’s Baghlan province left five commuters dead and about twenty injured.
Xinhua, citing the official Bakhtar News Agency, blamed driver negligence for the crash and noted that the injured were taken to nearby health centers. The report added that some of the wounded were seriously harmed and that investigators were still working to confirm the cause.
Separately, Pajhwok Afghan News reported the same casualty figures and specified that the bus involved was a 580‑passenger model. The article did not mention driver negligence or provide details on the crash’s circumstances but confirmed that the incident occurred in North Salang and that the tanker was transporting oil.
The Salang Highway is a major north–south route that links Kabul with northern provinces, and traffic accidents along the stretch have been a recurring safety concern. No official statements have yet clarified whether the tanker’s driver, the bus driver or road conditions contributed to the collision and why the accident occurred in the early morning hours.
Uncertainties remain about the exact number of critically injured passengers, what evidence supports the negligence claim, and when the investigation’s findings will be released, according to the statements from Xinhua and Pajhwok.
