2 days ago
2
Iraqi officials are moving to place the victims of a autobus clang that killed 21 radical implicit the weekend, a Provincial authoritative said Monday (June 8, 2026).
A rider autobus crashed and burst into flames Sunday (June 7) successful confederate Iraq, successful the latest deadly mishap connected the country's poorly maintained roads.
Fourteen of the bodies were burned beyond designation and person not been identified, said Ahmad Saleem, spokesperson for the Thi Qar Provincial Council. Two Iranian nationals are believed to beryllium among the dead, though their bodies person not yet been identified, helium said.
The autobus was travelling from the metropolis of Najaf — which is beatified to Shiite Muslims, and a predominant destination for pilgrims — to the confederate larboard metropolis of Basra erstwhile the clang occurred astatine astir 3 p.m. Sunday (June 7) successful Thi Qar Province, betwixt Thi Qar and Diwaniyah, Mr. Saleem said.
In summation to the 21 radical killed, different 20 were injured. The injured included 2 Iranians who were evacuated to Iran connected Monday (June 8) greeting done the Iranian Consulate successful Basra, the authoritative said.
Mr. Saleem attributed the clang to the road's mediocre condition, noting that section authorities had antecedently flagged it arsenic a information concern. He added that a terrible shortage of ambulances successful the state had hampered the effect to the crash.
Road accidents are communal successful Iraq, wherever decades of conflict, corruption and underinvestment person near overmuch of the country's infrastructure successful disrepair. Highways are poorly maintained, galore vehicles are aging, and postulation regulations are often not enforced.
In 2023, a autobus carrying pilgrims to the Iraqi metropolis of Karbala crashed northbound of Baghdad, sidesplitting 18 people.
