Nineteen people were killed and dozens injured when a tanker capsized and caught fire in a tunnel at the Salang Pass in the east. Afghanistanofficials Taliban.

At least 19 people were killed and 32 injured in the plane crash, Hekmatullah Samim, a spokesman for the provincial governor, Parwan, told reporters.

Provincial health spokesman Abdullah Afghan Mal said the dead included “many women and children who suffered severe burns.”

On Saturday evening, “a tanker overturned and caught fire inside the Salang tunnel and the fire spread to several other vehicles,” said Hamidullah Misbaz, a public works ministry spokesman, adding that the death toll could rise.

Traffic at the Salang pass, located north of Kabul, was blocked, and rescuers flew to the scene.

Salang Pass, one of the highest mountain roads on the planet (3650 m), built by Soviet specialists in the 1950s, includes a 2.6-kilometer tunnel that crosses the Hindu Kush and connects Kabul with the north of the country.

Numerous traffic accidents, heavy snowfalls and avalanches in winter force the authorities to regularly close the tunnel for several days.

In 2010, more than 150 people died as a result of avalanches at the Salang pass.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}