Iranian authorities say over 16,000 died on the road in the last Iranian year (2017-18)
Monitoring desk
Tehran
Ten people have been killed in a bus accident at one of Tehran´s largest universities, Iran´s news agency Tasnim reported Wednesday.
The bus was carrying 30 students along a mountainous road within the science research campus of Islamic Azad University in northwestern Tehran when it came off the road and hit a concrete column.
Seven were killed instantly, state TV said, while an updated death toll of 10 was reported by Tasnim the day after the crash.
Iran was the world´s seventh deadliest country for drivers per capita, according to the World Health Organization´s latest figures from 2013, and the only non-African country apart from Thailand in the top 10.
Iranian authorities say over 16,000 died on the road in the last Iranian year (2017-18).
Efforts to modernise Iran´s ageing and highly polluting cars have been hampered by a lack of investment, and foreign companies such as Peugeot and Renault were again forced to withdraw this year by the return of US sanctions.
The university blamed Tuesday´s crash on the driver having a stroke, but many on social media pointed to its ageing bus fleet and lack of road maintenance.
Journalist Mahmoud Sadri tweeted that the university´s use of a “ramshackle bus in a mountainous region” amounted to “manslaughter”.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered his condolences over the “tragic accident” in a statement .
