Truck carrying returning refugees crashes in eastern Afghanistan, killing 22

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A truck carrying Afghan refugees returning from neighboring Pakistan overturned on a highway in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least 22 people and injuring about 36 others, most of them women and children, officials said.

The accident occurred in Laghman province on the main highway linking Kabul, the Afghan capital, with Nangarhar province, said Abdul Malik Niazai, the spokesperson for the provincial governor.

He said among the dead were 10 children and five women, and the injured were taken to hospitals in Nangarhar.

The provincial director of public health. Aminullah Sharif, said 22 people were killed and about 36 injured. He said the accident occurred when the truck fell into a ditch after the driver fell asleep.

The passengers were among thousands of Afghans who recently returned from Pakistan, which launched a crackdown on migrants in 2023, and has since deported or pressured many to leave. Iran also intensified expulsions of Afghan migrants around the same time. Since then, millions of Afghans have returned home from the two countries, including many who were born in Pakistan and had spent decades living and working there.

In a separate accident in the eastern province of Nuristan, a car fell off the road into a river on Friday night, injuring the driver and leaving four passengers missing, the governor's office said Saturday. Rescue crews were searching for the four, the office said.

Traffic accidents are common across Afghanistan, where roads are poorly maintained and drivers routinely ignore traffic regulations.