At least 19 people were killed in an explosion in an Afghan fuel tanker tunnel

According to a local authority, a fuel tanker explosion in a tunnel north of Kabul, Afghanistan, left at least 32 people injured and 19 dead.

Located around 80 miles north of Kabul, the Salang Tunnel was initially constructed in the 1960s to aid the Soviet invasion. The country’s north and south are connected by this vital route.

At least 19 people, including women and children, were murdered in the tunnel explosion on Saturday night, according to Said Himatullah Shamim, a spokeswoman for the Parwan province. According to him, there are still survivors buried under the rubble, and the death toll could grow.

What precipitated the event, which occurred at about 8.30 p.m., was not immediately apparent.

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According to local official Dr. Abdullah Afghan, 14 fatalities and 24 injuries have so far been reported to Parwan’s health department. He claimed that among the deceased were two infants, five women, and eight men, the majority of whom were badly burned and were unrecognizably men.

Molvi Hamidullah Misbah, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Works, said early on Sunday that personnel were still working to empty the tunnel even though the fire had been put out.