Overview

• Authorities confirmed 17 children among the dead after the overnight crash in Guzara district outside Herat city.
• Local police said the bus first struck a motorcycle and then hit a fuel-carrying truck, triggering a blaze that engulfed the vehicle.
• Most of the fatalities were bus passengers; two people in the truck and two on the motorcycle also died, and three passengers survived, according to police.
• Provincial officials said the passengers had boarded at the Islam Qala border after deportation from Iran and were traveling to Kabul.
• UN agencies report more than 1 million Afghans returning this year, and the crash has renewed scrutiny of poor road conditions, dangerous driving and weak regulation.