CHARIKAR, Afghanistan
\nAn oil tanker overturned and caught fire in Afghanistan\u2019s high-altitude Salang Pass, killing 19 people and injuring dozens, officials said on Sunday.
\nThe incident happened late on Saturday in the province of Parwan, north of Kabul, leaving travellers on both sides of the mountainous pass stranded. At least 19 people were killed and 37 others were injured in the incident, said Hamidullah Misbah, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Works, adding the toll was expected to rise. \u201cAn oil tanker overturned and caught fire in the Salang Tunnel, which then set several other vehicles on fire,\u201d Misbah said.
\nAbdullah Afghan Mal, a senior health official in Parwan, said many of the dead included women and children who were badly burned. \u201cAmong the dead it was very hard to identify who was a male and who was a female,\u201d he said.
\nThe pass was now closed for traffic as rescue teams in helicopters deployed at the site, officials said.
\nThe Salang Pass, one of the highest mountain highways in the world at around 3,650 metres was built by Soviet-era specialists in the 50s and includes a 2.6-kilometre tunnel. The pass runs through the Hindu Kush mountain range that connects capital Kabul to the north.
\nHailed as an engineering feat upon completion, the Salang Pass is often shut for days because of accidents, heavy snowfalls and avalanches during the winter. In 2010, avalanches killed more than 150 people in the Salang Pass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CHARIKAR, Afghanistan An oil tanker overturned and caught fire in Afghanistan\u2019s high-altitude Salang Pass, killing 19 people and injuring dozens, officials said on Sunday. The incident happened late on Saturday in the province of Parwan, north of Kabul, leaving travellers on both sides of the mountainous pass stranded. At least 19 people were killed and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-302229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n