23 killed in road accident in southern Iran province

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 14 – At least 23 people were killed after a bus collided with a truck on a stretch of highway in the southern province of Fars, state television reported Sunday night. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Aug. 14 – At least 23 people were killed after a bus collided with a truck on a stretch of highway in the southern province of Fars, state television reported Sunday night.

The incident occurred between the cities of Lar and Shiraz.

There was no immediate word of injuries in the crash with police only saying that 23 passengers were killed as the bus caught fire.

The head of Iran’s traffic police Brigadier General Mohammad Rouyanian announced in June that the expected death toll from accidents on Iran’s highways for the current year stood at 31,000.

Iran’s highways are considered to be among the most dangerous in the world, with some 100,000 road-accident deaths occurring in the last five years, the equivalent of three deaths an hour.