Afghan road accident kills 15 family members

KABUL: At least 15 members of a single family were killed when a pickup truck veered off the road and plunged into a river in northern Afghanistan, officials said.

Women and children were among the dead after Saturday´s accident on the main highway between Parwan and Kabul, which is notorious for crashes. Apart from the 15 killed in the accident in the Salang district of Parwan province, two children were wounded and taken to hospital, said provincial spokeswoman Waheeda Shahkar, adding that the victims were all from one family.

Alizai Ahmadi, a local police chief, confirmed the accident but put the death toll at 16. Ahmadi said six women and six children were among the dead.

The Kabul-Parwan highway connecting the north and south of the country is heavily used and many vehicles are packed with people. War-torn Afghanistan has some of the world´s most dangerous roads due to wear and tear, a lack of enforcement of traffic rules and decrepit passenger vehicles.

In December last year 14 people were killed and dozens wounded when a bus collided with a truck in the western province of Farah.

In one of the country´s worst traffic accidents, 73 people were killed when two buses and an oil tanker burst into flames in a head-on collision in the eastern province of Ghazni in May 2016.