Fuel tanker blast in western Iran kills at least 10

The tanker explosion on Saturday was triggered by a road crash on the Hamedan-Sanandaj highway.

At least six other people were injured in the incident, the governor also said, adding that casualty figures were based on initial reports.

According to local officials, the resulting fire was immediately brought under control. They did not provide further details on the identities of those killed.

The latest deadly accident adds to a long history of deadly tanker and bus collisions in Iran, where poor road conditions, ageing vehicle fleets and heavy freight traffic have made such accidents a recurring hazard.

At least 13 people were killed in 2018, after a fuel tanker slammed into a bus that had stopped to pick up passengers near Sanandaj.

UNICEF said Iran’s rate of traffic crashes is 20 times the world’s average, as the country suffers from poor roads and lax traffic enforcement.