“Early in the morning today, based on the information we have received so far, 21 people were killed” in an accident “between a passenger bus, a tanker and a motorbike”, the provincial governor’s spokesman Mohammad Qasim Riyaz told AFP.

Another 38 people were injured in the collision, the provincial information department said, updating an initial tally of 11 provided by Riyaz.

The collision caused the vehicles to ignite, with images shared by the Helmand information department on social media showing charred, twisted metal and the crushed cabin of the tanker.

The accident took place early Sunday morning on a main highway between the capital Kabul and northern Herat city in the Grishk district of Helmand.

Deadly traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, due in part to poor roads, dangerous driving on highways and lack of regulation.

In December 2022, an oil tanker overturned and caught fire in Afghanistan’s high-altitude Salang pass, killing 31 people and leaving dozens more with burn injuries.