Bus carrying migrants crashes and catches fire: 79 dead

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani stated that in a tragic accident on the Iran-Afghanistan border in Herat province, 79 people, including 19 children who were deported from Iran and returning to Afghanistan, lost their lives. Two individuals were also injured in the accident which occurred around 20:30 local time yesterday. Herat province's Director of Culture and Information, Ahmedullah Muttaki, provided details of the accident on social media. According to Muttaki, the bus carrying deported migrants from Iran collided with a motorcycle and a cargo vehicle. Unnamed officials who spoke to TOLOnews reported that the bus caught fire upon impact, resulting in multiple fatalities. The deportation of illegal foreign nationals, primarily Afghans, from Iran has been accelerated following reports of some individuals entering the country illegally to carry out acts of terrorism and sabotage on behalf of Israel. Iran's Ministry of Interior's Director of Foreign Nationals and Refugees, Nadir Yarahmedi, announced on July 11th that over 772,000 Afghan irregular migrants had left Iran since the beginning of the Persian New Year on March 21st.